Okay so I have to see what you think, this was my first attempt at doing a stacked cake. I get that this needs lots of help so any comments are apreciated. I am practicing so I can do my sisters cake in june. Needed to add that ran into lots of trouble with this batch of bc


http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1339476.html

Your flowers are fantastic! Now before I go further let me say that I am pretty new myself and have done only one stacked cake myself. So take what I say with a box of salt as I am not speaking from years of experience. You are asking for advice so I am telling you what I have learned on here.

The thing that I see that could be a problem is that bottom layer appears to be bulging a bit. If you used a filling between the layers, make sure you don't overfill your buttercream dam. If you didn't make a buttercream dam (a stripe of bc straight from the coupler around the edge), you might consider that. A lot of people let the layers settle for a few hours before icing them or moving them to stack. Lastly, make sure that you have a good support system in place before stacking. If the weight is not supported properly, it will crush the cakes beneath. I see you used sps so that is probably not the problem.

Your cake is still pretty darn good so pat yourself on the back!!!!

And now that I have responded, maybe some others with much more wisdom than me can give you some tips.

Good luck! Be sure to post that cake in June!

If you can get sugarshack's DVD's. They will really help a lot. They go step-by-step on how to smooth your buttercream. They really help with all the steps. It is worth the investment. Great start! Good luck!

Hello. I've only done 3 stacked cakes but I think that some sort of internal support is necessary. You can use wooden or plastic dowel rods or sturdy straws, cut to the height of the lower tier. How many rods to use depends on how big the top cake is. The bigger the cake...the more support it will need to keep the top cake from sinking into and distorting the bottom cake. Just remember to tell your sister that there is are foreign objects in the cake that needs to be removed before serving. My teacher for Wilton III stated that you could take a longer dowel rod, sharpen it and insert it down both stacks for stabilization of the whole cake. You could also spread some royal or buttercream icing under the cake round of the top tier before placing on the bottom tier to keep it from sliding around.

I hope this helps

Darlita

u did a great job for your 1st attempt. There will always be issues with buldging. Just don't overdo the filling. Also make sure your layers are perfectly flat!!! before you fill.

Great job, you will get better with time

So was the cake to bad to have charged $20.00 for it. The bulging didn't happen until the people almost dropped it placing it on a stand they wanted to use. Yikes, I almost screamed. I didn't have time to let the cakes settle before icing/delivery on this one. Last minute call and thought I'd give it a shot on stacking, I did however discover that my 4" tall cakes were harder to do than what I thought, cause I only have the 2" pans so the sps didn't go all the way down but that could have just been me. I couldn't figure out how to get my hand under the tier to place it just right. Have to watch turitoral again.

Thanks for the nice comments and for taking time out to help me. CC is an amazing place for us newbies.

That is the hard part for me. How to set the cake on top of the other layers without messing up the layer you are sitting it on, much less the layer you are putting it on. Did that come out right?????

i barely got it on and then had 2 figure out how 2 push it down, but i did the main part wrong. practice, i will again soon.

You did great for your first stacked cake! I've only done a couple myself, so I don't have any fabulous advice that hasn't been offered. Just wanted to give you another pat on the back. And no, you did nothing wrong with charging $20 - I think that is more than fair!

I would like to ask, since it is relevant to this post, I was taught you have to have cake boards underneath each tier when stacking. However, when I look at some of the stacked cakes online, you can't tell at all - and sometimes it's not even that the borders are covering it up. Is there a secret or do you not always have to use the cake boards?

That is where I messed up, the only store in town that has the cake boards in town had recently had a fire so they were not available, I think that would have made it a whole lot easer when trying to stack and such. Instead I was so shakey from being afraid of dropping a tier or so that I didn't think of how I was going to get it pushed down into the bottom and second tiers. Next time should be easier as I have the boards on order from online. Also finally got my cake drums in right after I finished this one. It made me so mad that I didn't have one for this cake, I was afraid so I used my sps plate under the bottom tier. Had to compromise.

Amandafrost,
You do need to have the boards between layers for support. There is a technique to stacking a cake without borders. The boards are still there, just cleverly covered. SugarShack has DVD's that give detailed instructions. They are a great teaching tool.

Thank you TastyArt! I will have to check those out.

If the site will let me, here is a link to her Successful Stacking DVD

http://www.sugaredproductions.com/Successful_Stacking_DVD.html