I'm making my first tiered cake today - a 6" on top of an 8". I'm not sure if dowels are necessary, but I wanted to try them anyway for practice. Anyway, what is the best way to cut a dowel after you mark it? It is probably way too thick for scissors. Also, when doing the one dowel through the two tiers, how do you get it to go through the cake board on the top tier?
Yes, I'd dowel it. I usually have my husband cut my dowels on his band saw. But I suppose a good pr of clippers or heavy duty kitchen shears would do it too.
As for the center dowel, sharpen the end in a pencil sharpener, and hammer it through. It will go right through no problem.
HTH
Thank you! It worked! I think I cut my dowels on the bottom a little higher since the top one seems to kind of "spin". Should I cut them smaller then the cake next time? This time I cut them the same height as the cake.
I've had the same problem. What I do now is mark the dowel flush with the cake, then cut it next to the line, making it just a teensy bit shorter. That seemed to help.
What do you use to mark the dowel? I tried a food writer marker but I think the tip was too fat because it made a black mark on my icing and I nearly put my knuckles in the cake trying to hold the marker that close to the icing.
And, after all that, the dowels were still a bit high.
I mark it with my finger nail, pull it out and then score it with my nail - then get my Pampered Chef shears and make a good "mark" around and then snap!
I need to buy some gardening sheers again - they work great - someone else said pet nail clipers - just make sure they are new!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%