I've seen so many beautiful fondant tiered cakes on this site and wondered how all of you manage to stack your tiers without messing up your fondant, particularly the bottom edge. Do you have a cardboard round under each layer? Do you use a spatula to transfer? Any help would be appreciated.

I've used a spatula on the few I've done. I've seen where people have left their dowels, straws, etc. sticking up enough that they could set the tier on them and let the weight of the cake push them all the way down also.

Did you mean use a cake board underneath the same way you might when torting a cake, or stacking layers? I would think that would be a recipe for disaster; I'd be scared to death it would slip too far and mess up the cake underneath, or worse yet, slide completely off!

Oh, and yes, you need something underneath each cake tier, whether it's cardboard, foamcore, etc.

You always need a cardboard when you are stacking cakes. But for transfering them I use a spatula to lift, put the palm of my hand underneath, then when I am putting it down, do one side first, then take my hand away while holding with the spatula and then position and take the spatula away. You can smooth it back again if you touched it...
Edna

Edna, you make it sound so easy (sigh). I guess I just need to keep practicing.

It's scary at first, I wont lie to you, but the more you do it the easier it gets.
Edna

I usually save a few decorations aside, like flowers or dots, or even the ribbon for that layer. I add it on after I've stacked. That way I can use it to hide any impressions I left in the fondant.

I'm with Edna, thats exactly the way you do it.

Since I use SPS I *slide* the tier into place. Easy!