I know this is going to sound like a crazy question, 
but the only way I will ever know is to just break down and ask y'all!
I was looking at some tiered wedding cake pictures, I realize that each cake sits on an individual cake plate. I was looking at the cake underneath the top tier and it looks like the tiers are sticking directly in the cake. How does that work?
I know some people are going to read this and be like duuuuhhhhh!!!!!!! 
I'm not positive if I'm following your question correctly - do you mean that you cannot see a gap between tiers, or that they just seem "connected"? The supporting dowels are cut very close to the height of the tier they are going into. Mine only come about 1/16" above the cake they're insterted in. Then, the cake going on top is on a cardboard that is cut to the exact size of the cake + outer frosting... after it is placed on top of the bottom tier, a border is added to hide that tiny gap, or if there is no gap, to hide the cardboard. Pearling, shells, etc... Hopefully that answers your question, or at least you will know where I was led-astray & can re-ask so I can understand. Sorry, sometimes reading is a little hard to follow!
Ps... never a dumb question...........etc.........
They go to the bottom of that cake. Y
ou push them down until the touch the cake board. The "middle" cake is on a cardboard and it is enough support to hold the top tier up....providing that you've doweled right and everything is level..........and make sure the table is level!!!!!!
Let me know if you need more info.
I have never done a cake with separated tiers yet, and I'm a bit nervous to try my first one this September. The base layer is actually going to be above a small fountain, and then the next tier is stacked right on top of that - and then the top tier is separated from the rest - so at least the separated tier is small/lightweight... but I'm nervous about the entire cake being "in the air". I know they make those bottom pieces very sturdy though.
So - mmdd - how do you cut your dowels to make sure they're level for a cake like that? I am thinking that the white hollow dowels are the ones used with the columns? I'm going to practice once ahead of time if I can fit-in a practice cake....... oh, the lovely wedding cake, how I hate it until it's done sometimes! =)
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%