How Do I Avoid Fingermarks On A Stacked Cake?
Decorating By hsmomma Updated 9 Apr 2007 , 2:03pm by BJ
I've only done about a dozen wedding cakes and almost all of them were years ago. The style then was very much as many pillars as you could possibly put into a cake. You know the ones...all the height with lots of stairways between cakes and the fountain.
Now, I'm preparing to do my baby sister's cake and she wants a stacked cake without any pillars. It will be a round cake 16", 14", 12", 10", and 8" stacked directly on top of eachother. I think I get how to do the dowels as the other wedding cakes and many of the kids cakes I do are doweled. But, my question is...how do I stack these cakes without leaving any prints on the top of the cake below the one I stack when I stack them? It seems like when I've stacked cakes before there is usually a "lip" on the cake seperators to hold on to or at least they have borders around the base to cover any imperfection that came from stacking them. Normally I would add the border after I stack them but, This cake has no border (just ribbon around the base of each cake) and no "extra" cake plate showing. Do I just gently "drop" them onto eachother? Anyone know what I mean? And have any advice.... Thanks in advance...
I do one of two things I either gently put the tiers on top of each other or with fondant coverd cakes I use two larger angled spatulas to place the cake on top of the other cake and them slowly remove one spatula and once the cake is where I need it I remove the second spatula carefully hope that helps
When I have stacked my cakes, I used the advise of many ccer's. Don't put your dowls all the way into the cake. I leave mine sticking out about an inch. Then I rest the next layer on top of the dowls. The weight of the cake puches down the dowls and you never touch the bottom layer. It's worked great for me so far. By the time you get all the layers on the cake they should sit neatly upon each other. The last layer sometimes is setting higher as there may not be enough weight to puch the dowls down, so I take a small knife and find the lip of the cake board under the top layer and ease it down to where it should be.
Does that make sense?
I do the same as ljhow - I don't push my dowels all the way down (leaving about an inch). I can't tell you how many things I've tried so as not to damage the cake below the tier I'm placing. Beleive me, I've tried them all. This works! It gives you just that little extra second to get your fingers out of the way. The dowels slow the "drop" process just enough. It works everytime. Give it a try 
When I have stacked my cakes, I used the advise of many ccer's. Don't put your dowls all the way into the cake. I leave mine sticking out about an inch. Then I rest the next layer on top of the dowls. The weight of the cake puches down the dowls and you never touch the bottom layer. It's worked great for me so far. By the time you get all the layers on the cake they should sit neatly upon each other. The last layer sometimes is setting higher as there may not be enough weight to puch the dowls down, so I take a small knife and find the lip of the cake board under the top layer and ease it down to where it should be.
Does that make sense?
Thank you ladies so much!! I wasn't the one who asked but had been wondering the same thing. Whoever thought of this is a genius!!!!
Kristin
ljhow, that is an excellent method - reminiscent of the ancient Egyptions and the method they used in building! I have really wide, flat, steel cake shifter but this sounds infinitely better.
thanks for that great tip... will be trying that soon. 
I love this idea of keeping the dowels up but what do you do with a dummy cake? I am doing my first wedding cake and she wants it in fondant (white and Choco). All the layers are dummys except the top and I was told not to put dowels in any of them. Any help avoiding the dings. By the way it wont have a border or ribbons UGH!!!
Thanks !!
When I have stacked my cakes, I used the advise of many ccer's. Don't put your dowls all the way into the cake. I leave mine sticking out about an inch. Then I rest the next layer on top of the dowls. The weight of the cake puches down the dowls and you never touch the bottom layer. It's worked great for me so far. By the time you get all the layers on the cake they should sit neatly upon each other. The last layer sometimes is setting higher as there may not be enough weight to puch the dowls down, so I take a small knife and find the lip of the cake board under the top layer and ease it down to where it should be.
Does that make sense?
ditto, it works really great.
If you don't insert the dowels all the way at first how can you be totally sure that they are cut to the right height? I am always afraid that they will be slightly to tall or too short and the cake will sink into the bottom layer or stick up slightly. Any suggestions here? Also, do most of you stack the cake on site or do the Martha Stuart thing with the hammered center dowel? Thanks!!!
i insert one all the way in, mark it with a pencil, remove it and cut. i then cut all the others to match exactly. insert them all, then pull them back up a couple of inches. set the cake on top, center it while still holding on, then quickly slide your fingers out from under it, and it should sink down right where it needs to be. after they are all stacked, i sharpen a long dowel an inch or so shorter than the completed cake and push it down the middle- when it gets to the cardboard, i gently tap it with a hammer (cover it with a clean towel if its not a clean hammer) to get it through. when the dowel is nearly inserted all the way, place another small piece of dowel on top of the center one and tap it in the last inch or so. remove your extra piece, cover the hole with icing or a decoration or topper
So, if I use a center dowel, I can drive it in the car that way?
WORD OF CAUTION!!!! I've always used this method and it works wonderfully, until yesterday. read the post below for details. I can't write it again--too upsetting. I think if you use the info at the end of the post regarding putting dowels in all the way first, then adding a few to keep sticking up, it should help. good luck.
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-212771.html
Regarding the dowel placement. In order to make sure all the dowels are the right height before placement of the next layer here's what I do. After I've cut all the dowels needed I do place them all the way down into the bottom tier. Once I'm happy with the height - I TAKE THEM ALL OUT.
I then place them back into the cake in another spot (not the same hole they just came out of - the whole idea with leaving the 1" of the dowel out is so that the cake below the dowel slows the "drop" process. If you put the dowels back into the same hole you just checked the height with- there will be no "slowing" process cause there's no cake below the dowel anymore - just the hole. 
) No one sees the holes made cause the next tier will cover them. If I'm using 4 dowels - there are 4 empty holes from where I had checked the height and then there are the 4 dowels with the placement usually about 1 inch away from the original hole. Remember - the dowels are pretty small in diameter so it won't make any difference if there are a couple extra holes in the cake. No one will see it. I hope I wrote this so you can understand what I do.
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