Questions About Dowels

Decorating By TrinaH Updated 9 Mar 2007 , 4:48am by TrinaH

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TrinaH Posted 5 Mar 2007 , 5:12pm
post #1 of 8

Ok, I'm hammering out the details on a cake I'm doing next month. The set-up is like this:

Fountain underneath cake
16 inch round dummy
14 inch round dummy stacked on
12 inch round dummy stacked on
glass bowl tier w/ seperators
8 inch round real cake
6 inch round real cake stacked on

All cakes are 4 inches high.

Now for my questions:

1) Do I put dowels through the dummy cakes??? How about seperator plates between them or cake boards?

2) How do I know how many dowels to put through cakes?

3) How many cardboard cake boards do you put between layers that are stacked to make them sturdy enough to hold the cakes up?

4) Are wooden or plastic dowels sturdier and/or easier to work with?


Thank you so much in advance for any answers you can give! I've never done a stacked OR a tiered cake and this is going to be both lol

7 replies
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peg818 Posted 5 Mar 2007 , 8:37pm
post #2 of 8

Your dummy cakes don't need dowels in them. The real cakes, will need dowels in the 8 inch about 5 will hold the 6in with out problems. You might need a couple of more in the 6in if you are putting a heavy topper on it.


Do you realize how tall this cake is going to be?? Make sure the table is real sturdy and level (take a level with you and make sure) Cause if the table is off, it will be magnified by the time you get to the top of that huge cake.

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JoAnnB Posted 5 Mar 2007 , 11:35pm
post #3 of 8

also, consider the cutting of the cake. Will they be able to reach and cut the 'real' cake without tipping the whole thing over? The fountan puts it quite high.

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TrinaH Posted 6 Mar 2007 , 8:42am
post #4 of 8

Yeah.... I know about all of that ... but they INSIST that is what they want! Who am I to argue...as long as they pay right?

So do I put cake boards between the dummies?

Anyone have any ideas for my 3rd and 4th question?

Thanks for helping me with the # of dowels Peg!

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peg818 Posted 6 Mar 2007 , 8:05pm
post #5 of 8

As far as the cardboards, you need them between the real cake not the dummies.

The question about the dowels is really a matter of personal preference. You can go with the plastic, but they are priceier then the wooden, you would use less plastic then wood.

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TrinaH Posted 8 Mar 2007 , 7:43am
post #6 of 8

How many cake circles (cardboard) do you think I should put between the 6 in round and the 8 inch round?

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peg818 Posted 8 Mar 2007 , 9:14pm
post #7 of 8

i use two, but one would probably be just fine. Also, don't forget to put one under the 8

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TrinaH Posted 9 Mar 2007 , 4:48am
post #8 of 8

Thank you soooo much, you've been really great!!!

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