When stacking a 4 tier cake I know to have the cakes sitting on cardboard circles. Do the circles need to be covered in foil or something when I stack them on the dowels? I am covering the cakes in fondant and then stacking. Any help would be great. I looked at You Tube and the videos did not talk about that part.

I think it might be personal preference, but I ALWAYS will cover my boards. It also helps the cake from sticking to the boards if they are covered.
HTH

I always cover mine too. I use Glad Press n Seal.

Good question! I have only done one tier cake with the boards and did not cover them. It worked fine but I'm sure it would be good to cover them. I would suggest wax paper cut to the size of your board so that you don't see that shiny silver foil! Good luck!

Maybe a dumb question - but do you all cover them top and bottom? Or do you do the wax paper on 10x sugar thing to prevent the bunchy part (on bottom of cardboard) from sticking to lower tier? I guess what I mean is when you wrap the press-n-seal around the sides of the cardboard, then you end up with all your loose ends underneath ie: not completely flat? (Did that make ANY sense?? :/)

i don't cover mine if they aren't going to be seen (in b/t layers). they are made knowing that food will sit on them and thus it's ok if you don't cover!

Thanks for all the input. How many circles do you use per tier if each tier is 3 2inch cakes? Thanks again!

I always cover mine because someone told me once that they had there tiered cake on a plain cake board and the grease from the cake and icing softened the board and the dowel rods poked through causing the cake to sag. So I always cover mine now, just in case.

One *might* suffice if it were only 2 layers tall... use 3 layers (like for TT design and I'd definitely use two. I always use two cardboards for only 2-layer cakes because one alone can get soaked with so much B/C grease & cake oil to make it flimsy and weak let alone nasty to look at when cutting.

I put the first circle on top of the peg supports and push down (yes, don't be afraid to apply pressure as long as it's direct and even pressure across the entire board, not just one spot that may fold your board along the corrugated line, and not without direct downward pressure or you may just slide it across and misalign your pegs).

Then I put a dab of icing on that before setting the next tier of cake above (of course, the tier you are placing is already on its own cardboard circle, so that makes two cardboards total... touching one another because they are in love!)

I apologize in advance if this was already said, I had two toddlers being very active while I was trying to read the responses Now that they are upstairs with daddy for a few minutes, I will reply.

I cover my base boards in decorative foil. Place my bottom cake on it, ice and fondant. Each other layer goes on a cardboard circle covered in Press n Seal. I don't trim it or anything and haven't had any problems with it bunching on the bottom. I stretch it around the board and I actually like that it covers the bottom of the board so it doesn't soak up grease on that side either. Not that anyone sees it, but I don't want it getting flimsy from the grease. After I cover the board, but before i put the cake on it, I press it on the table and move it around a bit to flatten the bottom. But even without doing this, it doesn't cause problems. I put the cake on the covered circle, on my turntable and ice and cover in fondant. The fondant covers the cake board so you can't see it.

I then put straws in my bottom layer for supports, a dab of icing on the top of the straw and lay my 2nd layer on. The weight of the cake is enough make a good seal.

I do this until I am done. I usually put some kind of boarder around each layer during decoration.

I think someone asked how many cake boards. I just use one per cake tier.

HTH!

Thank you guys so much. I feel much more confident doing this cake now.

Wow - CC'ers never cease to amaze me - you all are so kind and thorough!

mom2owen1 - I feel your pain! haha! I have 3 kids ages 5 and under - so I really appreciate you taking the time to type that detailed step-by-step out for us!

I don't cover my circles, but I do use the ones with one "waxy" side.

Ok, so I just made my first wedding cake and used the foam board with the Press-n-seal...How easy!!! Dowel went right through it all no prob! And I feel like it is so much sturdier than the cardboard. Hopefully it will be as easy to disassemble tomorrow when we serve it!
(Although I'm a dingbat...forgot to use my new little trick I learned on here: sprinkling PS on the top of the bottom tier and putting a wax paper sheet between so I don't lose the icing...oh well! Not the worst thing...will remember next time!)