I have been asked to make my first wedding cake and I'm nervous as, well you know. Anyway, she wants 4 square tiers stacked (but stacked criss crossed) can't explain it, square then diamond and so on. I just did a 3 tiered round and just put a board under each tier with dowels set in the cake below. Is this enough? Or is there something else I have to do to secure it. I will have to put it together at the reception hall as I am afraid it wouldn't all make it there.

Also, most of the wedding cakes I see on cc are perfect. Do you use a level to ensure they are straight. I don't want these squares to be hanging off the edge, etc.

Thank you in advance for your help.

I use a level on my cakes.

I had to do a 3 tiered cake for my brother's wedding in this same way but it had to feed 300 people so there were 4 cakes per layer . Let me share my experiences with you so that you can avoid the same mistakes that I did. First off I used the big plastic dowel rods that look like pillars. They supported much better, second was that I used square 16", 12" and 8" cake pans and when the 12 was turned on an angle on the 16" it looked like the corner was coming off the side of the cake, so I would recommend practicing the stacking before you get there so that you know what it will look like. I was not able to get my cakes to be completely square with all of the weight on there, I now wonder if I should have supported the corners with smaller dowel rods as well. This is just what I experienced with my cake, everyone loved it just the same but I really saw every single flaw and really wouldn't want anyone else to feel my pain! If you need anything feel free to pm me!!!!

Remember when you are doing square cakes at an angle, you need to remember that you need to measure the cake at the diagonal. A 12 inch square cake would be 12 squared + 12 squared = 288 and then you take the square root of that which would be roughly 17 inches. So, you wouldn't be able to put that on a 14 or 16 inch cake. You would need at least an 18 inch cake and with the icing, it would just fit. An 8 inch cake would be 8 squared + 8 squared = 128 and the square root of that would be just over 11. A 5 inch square cake would be 5 squared + 5 square =50 and the square root of that would be 7. So, just as an idea you could use 18, 12, 8, and 5 inch square pans at an angle.

I hope that makes sense!

~Mindy

While I have yet to make a tiered cake I've failed to realize how much math goes into it. I suck at math but am so grateful for all you cc members that take the time to explain in great detail.

I think many of us do "twisted squares" for the reasons outlined above. The diagonal measurement of a square is longer than most people think. Stack up some square pans and twist the one on top so that the diagonal meets the edges of the pan below. It will make a lot more sense when you do it.

Also, do we need to talk about SPS for support?