Okay I'm going to be doing my first stacked cake other than the one in the Wilton 3 class where we used pillars. I was watching this video I got from the library last night (it was an OLD and TERRIBLE video on how to decorate wedding cakes) and anyway - they used coconut under their boards to keep them from slipping..... has anyone done this? Is it necessary? What if people hate coconut? (This will be a buttercream cake - not fondant so i can't just kinda brush it away).
Anyway - I know about using dowels, but I've also heard some horror stories about boards getting soggy and the cake sagging if they aren't cake plates or covered in contact paper. So I need to cover in contact paper then? But other than the weight of the cake, does anything keep the top tier from sliding? Like if someone bumped a table or if you wanted to transport it already together? (It will be a very small cake and I'm taking it to a restaurant - no reception center so I wont' have time to decorate it there - i"d like to deliver it fully done - stacked & decorated).
Oh also - I'm going to be using fondant pearls on the buttercream cake - will I have problems w/ the pearls falling off or can I just kind smoosh 'em into the buttercream & they should stay pretty well?
Thanks!
Try wrapping the board in plastic wrap first so it won't soak up anything from the cake. Also, you can put some 10X sugar down first instead of the coconut but I don't like how that looks either, so I just cut out a same-size piece of parchment and put that down, THEN put the plastic covered board w/ cake.
Good luck!
I have read about the sharpened wooden dowel going down through the center of all the tiers. I have never needed to try it yet though. I would be a little nervous that hammering through the cake board (especially one wrapped in contact paper) would smoosh the cake underneath. I am sure there is someone here that knows more about that than me.
oh yeah - can you hammer down a center dowel if your boards are wrapped in contact paper or something? What if I'm using cake plates? then I wouldn't need dowels right? If it's just one cake stacked on top of another? I could just use a same-size cake plate for the top tier? This is the cake I'm trying to make at the moment - still interested in using the cardboard w/ the seperators (grecian pillars, etc) though too...... or do you always use cake plates w/ those pillars? :
Well I have only stacked two cakes now...but my 2nd especially was pretty successful...yea! Anyway I covered all of my cake circles with contact paper so they wouldnt get soggy. I have not tried using cake plates, but I assume you should still dowel. I think better safe than sorry. I have used the center dowel in both of my cakes. I dont think you'd be able to use a center dowel with the plates though. It really isnt that hard to hammer it through the cardboard, just sharpen it with a pencil sharpener. If you are going to be transporting it there stacked I would DEFINITELY use the center dowel. My 2nd cake that I stacked (pooh cake in photos) I did in fondant so I cut a hole in the bottom of the cardboard cake circle (for the top tier) and placed the cake on top of the center dowel (so that it wouldnt poke a hole in the fondant if that makes sense) Your picture though looks like the hole could be covered by the bow. The first time I stacked I put powdered sugar between the layers, but it still kind of stuck. For my second i didnt have any left so I just cut a piece of parchment the same size and it came off great, but it was fondant.
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