how do you stack layers with out gouging the bottom w/ your finger??? I've not done a "stacked" cake yet! I know this seems so elementary.... but the wedding cake I'm doing has three tiers all square w/ the top one twisted.....it seems easy enough, but just wondering if there are any tricks I should know about....I have read to wait and put the "ribbon" on after they are stacked! the pic I have doesn't show a "boarder" I've seen some put a boarder on w/ ribbon....what do you guys think? I'll try to put the pic of the cake she wants here for ya'll to give me pointers....

Thanks

When I put my dowels in the bottom cake I leave them sticking up a few inches that way I have a place to set the cake and pull my hands away quicklythe weight of the cake will push the dowel in and the cake will have no finger marks on it. You just need to make sure your dowels are the right sizes. I out the ribbon on after they are stacked but I am sure we have have out own ways.
Good Luck

I couldn't do it without my handy "wide" spatula! It's extra wide (about 7 inches) and real sturdy. I use it to balance and place, then if I have to turn gently a bit, it will. THEN I slide it out gently. Love it.

We did cakes like that all the time, and because we lived in a mountainey area, we almost always put the top tier on, on site. You need to make sure that the layers are LEVEL... and that the fondant ribbon sits Flush to the board. As a precaution, we would take along BC bags of the base icing color of the cake, and the color of the ribbon... nine time out of ten, that would fix any gap.... and with wedding bliss going on, ten out of ten never noticed a small bead border added in desperation!

Ditto on the spatula. I use my regular icing spatula, but it's like having a third skiinny hand to help you out! I always slide the spatula out from the backside of the cake, just in case it grabs any icing and might mar the icing.

If you are doing the square-diamond-square cake set up, get out your pans and set them up to know what sizes you can use. I do this to show brides why they have to buy more cake, sometimes. A 10" square pan is 10" from side to side ... but it's 14" from corner to corner, so it wont' fit on top of a 12" cake in a diamond-square-diamond configuration. The corners will overlap and hang over the edge of the cake. (Learned this the hard way! )

It was probably hysterical to see me putting the 16" layer together by myself...I started to cry at one point! I don't know how you do it all by yourself! It came off the board crooked and half hanging off the bottom layer that had the filling on it! I'm a clutz! Anyway, I don't have an extra wide heavy duty spatula! I'll have to improvise and enlist some help! She wants real ribbon in black, so that'll go on at the site....i'm putting it all together there....the three tiers.....that is....don't want any mishaps! Thanks for all of your help and ideas...I am definately taking along some extra bags of bc and will possibly do a small boarder if needed once we get there. I'm still confused if I leave my dowels sticking up a little then my top layers won't be flush will they? I got the plastic round hollow dowels to use. Last time I used small wooden ones I almost lost my top layer! Thanks ya'll!

the dowels are cut the same height as the bottom cake, but you dont push them in all the way, so they stick out a little, when you drop the cake on them the weight of the cake will push them in all the way and the cake is flush with the bottom one.
Hope this makes sense