I am doing a stacked wedding cake (6", 8", 10" and 12") in a couple of weeks and have been doing a lot of research on how to make it stable. I understand running a dowel through all the layers is good but does anyone have any horror stories from doing this? To me it would seem it might crack a cake especially when trying to get through the cardboard and into the next cake. Has anyone tried to put the holes in the cardboard first? I know it might be hard to line it up but it must be possible. Any advice on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Actually, a pointed dowel will go through the tiers pretty easily. I use my trusty rubber mallot to get the job done. I only do this when the cake needs to travel. If i set it up on site, I just use the dowels to support the tier above it and not drive a pointed dowel all the way through. Also, look around CC. Some people have the down in the cake base and hole pre-poked in their cake plates or rounds and set the tiers on the dowels. I haven't tried this yet, but would definitely be less scary.
hey ther in australia when we do stacked cakes we use dowel but i tape it up with flower tape first after washing and drying it of course but what you do is postion where you need to pout them then after you have covered th first cake instert them into the cake and wait till it his the bottom turn the dowel (skewer) upside down so it has a flat bottom righ to the bottom and draw a line accross where its at the top of the cake so its all leval then take it out cut it at the line reinsert and your done put you other covered cake ontop as per normal stick it down so its stable and repeat if you hav more than 2 tiers hope this was helpfull hav a gr8 day and i hope my instructions where ok lol if not msg me pixie 
If you cut all your cake boards exactly to the size of the corresponding cake, then you can stack all the boards together at the beginning, and drill through all the layers at the same point. This will ensure that all the holes line up.
Taking one board at a time, mark the corresponding cake with the centre - this is if you are doweling from top to bottom.
It is easier to attach a dowel on the bottom board (largest layer) first then thread each cake over the dowel, inserting the corresponding cakeboard first, then cake, then board, etc.
I sharpen my dowel with a regular electrice pencil sharpener and then the very sharp dowel goes right through the cardboard with no problem. (Use a new pencil sharpener of course.)
This is a great question and great answers... I'm stacking a 3D cake on a round cake this weekend and was wondering about this too. I like the idea of dowelling the bottom tier and then adding the upper layer... I have a similar question.. When I stack layers (with rods under) I always use just one board in between. I set the bottom cake, frost it, then dowel it, then put the upper cake on top (on it's own cake circle). But I read something about putting a circle down on the bottom cake first (so you'll have two circles touching each other) I never did it this way because although it seems like it would be less messy for the person disassembling it, it would be more prone to slide off. Any thoughts?
I used to do the center dowel thing, but have since abandoned dowels altogether. I'm now a huge fan of BakeryCraft's SPS system and can't imagine using anything else. It's easy, fast, cheap and sturdy. I haven't cut a dowel in several years. And I can deliver a semi-stacked cake. If I could lift more than three tiers I'd deliver fully stacked, I think.
I'm a little confused by the BakeryCrafts sps system. I have searched to get some information on it but it isn't very clear. It looks like you have to use big pillars. Can you do a stacked cake with it? I'm sorry to be confused but the descriptions I found weren't very good. Thanks in advance for any additional information someone can give me.
By "big pillars" if you mean tall ones, then no you don't use those. You have to order the GC-4S which is 4" tall and works perfectly for stacked cakes. I'be used this system exclusively for several years now and am a big advocate. And no I'm not conencted with the company in any way!
If you want a separation, then you order the columns that come in sections so that you can have a little separation or a lot. I use those occasionally, but by far, the vast majority of my cakes are stacked with no separations.
And I agree they don't do a particularly good job of explaining the system on their website.
I bake all my cakes so that after torting and assembly they are 4" tall. I don't cut the legs, as that kind of defeats the ease of use.
I have a horror story I stacked a cake over the weekend and with a perfectly pointy dowel I pushed it through the 1st board and without fail it didnt go through it only folded my board in 1/2 creating a blowout of the cake below it... what a disaster... Now I am doing another stacked cake next weekend and have to travel with it.. am I am petrified.... Its a pretty big deal and I really dont want a blowout... I think Im gonna try to cut my holes in advance... I'm so afraid of dowels now.
Oh tnuty!!!! I am so sorry that happened to you...that is exactly what I fear will happen to me. I would love to be able to buy the Stress Free Support set but the price is a bit too steep for me because I don't do many large stacked cakes. Most of my orders are only 1 cake high. Yikes! Now I'm stressing again!
leahs...what if your cakes aren't exactly 4" high. You said if you were to cut the legs that would defeat the ease of use. But not everyone can have exactly the same height of cake so it must work if you have to cut the legs. I'm sorry but I wish the website would explain the system better...because they might have a customer in me if I understood it better.
Oh sure you can cut the legs, but really, all my cakes are 4" tall. Really. I torte each layer to 7/8" and then with filling (four layers per tier) the cakes are 4" tall. I use the Agbay leveler to torte the cakes and they are exactly the same height and level.
To use the SPS:
Assemble bottom most tier on board/plate as usual.
Use the SPS plate to punch a hole in a cardboard the same size as the cake being placed on top of the bottom most tier. (Let's call that tier the middle.) Use a skewer (or similar) to enlarge the hole in the cardboard slightly. Place cake on cardboard and assemble as usual.
If there's a third tier on top, repeat.
Take the plate and center it on the cake (after the icing has crusted a bit) and lightly mark where the legs will go into the cake. Remove plate.
Jam the legs (columns) into the plate. The fit will be quite tight.
Push the plate and leg assembly into the bottom most tier.
Mark the middle tier and place the leg and plate assembly in it.
Now pick up the middle tier and place it on the plate that's now sitting in the bottom most tier. You do not have to get it centered. Just get the far edge past the center peg and slide it into place. You'll likely hear a little whoosh when the peg on the "receiving" plate catches the hole you punched in the cardboard. If your plate was centered in the bottom most tier, then your middle tier is centered.
Repeat with next tier up.
Notes: Always use the plate to punch a hole in the cardboard. You'll only forget once.
Always assemble the leg and plate system and insert into all tiers before assembly. You do not want to be pushing the leg and plate assembly into a partially stacked cake. It will cause a blowout.
Once you have a wee bit of practice you can stack up a six tier cake in no time!
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