Wedding Cake Base Tier Border Advice Needed Asap! Sorry Long
Decorating By tobycat Updated 27 Jul 2007 , 8:57pm by tobycat
I've only done 2 wedding cakes, and I have forgotten about this issue both times until it's too late, so if anyone has any advice, please help.
This is a 3-tier stacked square cake. The bottom tier is 14" and will be placed on the silver pedastal square cake stand. The stand is for an 18" cake, so there will be plenty of border of the cake stand showing.
I am planning on putting the bottom tier on a cake board first, so my questions are these:
1. If I cut the cake board to size of the cake, then the bead border I'm piping will wind up directly on the cake stand. Is this what you do?
2. Do I cover the board first to hide the ugly board? (What about the other tiers -- do you cover those boards?)
3. My plan is to cut the board a bit bigger than the cake, cover it with silver paper (to somewhat match the stand) and then pipe the bead border so that the silver board is showing a bit around the cake. THere will be a contrast between the board and the stand, but I thought that MIGHT be okay. Will this work okay?
4. Do any of you just put your cake directly onto the kind of base I'm talking about or do you always use a cake board?
Thank you very much for any help you can offer!
S.
if it were me, i would cut all the boards the same size as the cakes and put the border directly on the silver base for your bottom tier. i hate it when the cardboard shows, even when they're covered with foil i think its tacky. (just mho) surely they clean the base after each use anyway, so is it a big deal of the icing is touching it? and i would always use a cakeboard under every tier, then set that on the base whatever it is. good luck!
if it were me, i would cut all the boards the same size as the cakes and put the border directly on the silver base for your bottom tier. i hate it when the cardboard shows, even when they're covered with foil i think its tacky. (just mho) surely they clean the base after each use anyway, so is it a big deal of the icing is touching it? and i would always use a cakeboard under every tier, then set that on the base whatever it is. good luck!
Well, I don't need to worry about it being clean because it's mine, so that's one less thing to worry about! But, I just wonder if when they cut it, if it isn't a bit awkward to have the beads going down farther than the cake itself because they have to cover up the entire bottom layer of the board?
BTW -- beccakelly, your cakes are beautiful!
S.
do you mean will there not be any border of beads on each slice of cake? if thats the concern i wouldn't worry about it. people are eating the cake now, they don't care if there is an intact border of icing. most of the bottom border wil prolly end up staying on your base, and i wouldn't stress about it. i mean, when you use a ribbon border you take that off to cut it, so theres no border there either.
thanks for the nice comment on my cakes!!
ALWAYS use a cardboard under your cakes. (1) it prevents your stand (silver or otherwise) from getting scratched during the cutting. (2) if there is any leftover cake, the bride can just take the cardboard off and return the stand to you immediately. Otherwise, they have to find something to put the leftover cake on before they can give you back the stand....very inconvenient!
Here is a photo of one of my cakes where the board is cut the same size as the cake. http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=750353
beccakelly is right .... once the cake is cut, no one cares what it looks like, just as long as it tastes good! 
ALWAYS use a cardboard under your cakes. (1) it prevents your stand (silver or otherwise) from getting scratched during the cutting. (2) if there is any leftover cake, the bride can just take the cardboard off and return the stand to you immediately. Otherwise, they have to find something to put the leftover cake on before they can give you back the stand....very inconvenient!
Here is a photo of one of my cakes where the board is cut the same size as the cake. http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=750353
beccakelly is right .... once the cake is cut, no one cares what it looks like, just as long as it tastes good!
Great points all! Thank you so much. I solved my dilemma I think. I used cake board (which is what I've always done) and then I put a bigger board underneath while crumb coating so that I was able to ice over the bottom board too. That way it won't be such a hassle to deal with when I put on the bead border. And, you're right, people won't care about the beads not being there -- I'm just soooo nervous about doing wedding cakes!
Thanks much, everyone!
S.
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