I have a stacked-5 tier "whimsical" birthday cake order for this Sunday. I usually dont do these cakes because multiple layers stacked make me nervous. What tips can you give me to help me execute this design? I have never used dowels and dont know how to start. It will be a strawberry cake with BC icing that I will use a comb through to give it a rippled look on the sides. Then I will make BC buttons around the edges of the tiers and finally, place chocolate covered strawberries along the top four layers. The tutorials posted here confuse me as I am a virgin to the stacking world. 
Any help here would be appreciated!
TIA
One more thing, the sizes of the pans I am using will be 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8; all two inches except for the 8 which will be 3.
Oh my--that is ambitious for your first stacked cake!
First of all, be sure to leave yourself waaaay more time to finish this than you think you need.
Do you have any Wilton yearbooks? They have instructions for stacking cakes.
Most cake decorating books also have instructions and diagrams. Colette Peters' books are good.
I haven't made a whimsical cake, so I can't help you there. Sorry!
If at all possible, you should transport the tiers separately and assemble them onsite.
I hope someone else can give you more/better advice.
Good luck and let us know how you fare!
good luck - sounds like it'll be very primo. are you going to post it?
good luck - sounds like it'll be very primo. are you going to post it?
If I dont kill it!!
There is an article on here under Articles (hmm) about How to Build a Topsy Turvy Cake that I found interesting.
Use dowels as instructed in the Wiltons books, and you'll be fine.
And yeah, plan for WAY WAY more time than you think you need, to avoid the 4 a.m., still-awake-decorating issue.
Transporting it...is another issue. I've only moved 3 tiers stacked at once, and I wouldn't do 4-5; you might want to consider the different options there.
The good news is that I wont have to transport it... I will be baking it at the birthday girl's parents home. The bad news is that I cant seem to understand using the dowels
What specifically don't you understand? Maybe we could help if we knew exactly what was confusing to you.
Basically, the dowels should be cut so they are even with the top of the tier they are inserted in. The next tier cake should be on a cardboard round and set on top of the dowels. Some people use a little royal icing or something like that for "glue."
When you say "whimsical cake," does that mean you're making a cake with tilted tiers?
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%