Would You Bother Dowelling..........
Decorating By MikeRowesHunny Updated 12 Sep 2006 , 5:20pm by Sumer
a 6in petal on top of a 9in petal? Bottom cake will be carrot cake (so nice & firm textured), top cake will be a chocolate cake - both from scratch, both covered in fondant. This is for my own birthday cake next week, so they don't have to be transported any further than from the kitchen to the dining room! They'll be finished the night before, so will sit stacked (in the fridge overnight because I have cream cheese filling for the carrot cake), for no more than 14 hours or so. Will they be alright without dowels? Your opinions please!
I always dowel any tier cake, even the smallest one. You are making a carrot cake for the bottom, which is very moist, and structurally, not very sound. It may not be able to hold a smaller tier that is covered with fondant.
Theresa 
a 6in petal on top of a 9in petal? Bottom cake will be carrot cake (so nice & firm textured), top cake will be a chocolate cake - both from scratch, both covered in fondant. This is for my own birthday cake next week, so they don't have to be transported any further than from the kitchen to the dining room! They'll be finished the night before, so will sit stacked (in the fridge overnight because I have cream cheese filling for the carrot cake), for no more than 14 hours or so. Will they be alright without dowels? Your opinions please!
Hm, dunno, it's a good oportunity to experiment i suppose, since it's your own. I always put boards and dowels or straws in all my tiered cakes. Even fruit cakes, and mudcakes, and they're heavy and firm.
cheers
Nati
Thanks, I think I'll try the straw trick, never tried that before!
Thanks, I think I'll try the straw trick, never tried that before!
Yeah i was pretty amazed that straws could hold anything up, but straws and boards works just as well as straws and boards.
Good luck
Nati
Oh yeah
Happy Birthday!!!
I would definitely dowel it. Especially if you are going to refrigerate it overnight before you serve it, maybe if you were going to stack it just before you served it, you could risk it, but leaving it for any length of time might make the top tier sink into the bottom and then who knows what might happen.
You don't want your birthday cake looking all wonky!
Happy birthday by the way
I would definitely dowel it. Especially if you are going to refrigerate it overnight before you serve it, maybe if you were going to stack it just before you served it, you could risk it, but leaving it for any length of time might make the top tier sink into the bottom and then who knows what might happen.
You don't want your birthday cake looking all wonky!
Happy birthday by the way
DITTO*!*!*!*! 
Oh Happy Birthday to you!!! I usually use straws as support - so far it has been ok with overnight chilling in the fridge. But I use buttercream and have never tried cream cheese yet...oh, and the straws that I use are the fat ones - the ones you can get from the Asian stores. They are more sturdy (and wider) than regular straws.
Happy Birthday to you! And yes, I would use some support.
I would dowel with something, either dowels or straws. I had a cake collapse (my own, thankfully)....not from the weight or from sitting, but someone started to cut the top tier and applied pressure. It ended up smashing the lower tier. It was all good, we laughed about it....but now, I put the "dowels" to every tiered cake!
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