Quick Questions: Stacking 2-Tier Cake
Decorating By GarciaGM Updated 30 Sep 2009 , 4:46pm by gagirl3
Hi guys, I'm making a 2-tier cake of 2 6" layers and 2 9" layers. This will be my first stacked cake.
1. I plan to use straws to support my top tier, which I will put on a cardboard cake round before placing it on the bottom tier. Will several straws be enough to support the top tier?
2. Do I need to dowel a cake like this? If so, can I use bamboo skewers instead of cake dowels?
3. This will sound dumb but, won't the icing from the bottom layer peel off with the top layer when I take it off? How can I avoid this happening? Refrigerate the cake to let it set before I position the top tier? Should the cake board be wrapped in plastic wrap before I put it on the cake?
Thank you!!!
The only time I've ever had a disaster, it was when I was using straws. I think regular, drinking straws are only okay if the cake doesn't have to travel at all. Bamboo skewers aren't the best either for support because they're so narrow. Sometimes I will use one for a center dowel on a small cake that already has plastic supports in the lower tier, but when the cake has to travel, nothing beats using a regular, sharpened dowel as a center dowel, and hollow plastic dowels as supports.
About covering the board, some people do and others don't. I use foamcore and I cover it with press and seal wrap.
And for the frosting coming off when you take off the top tier, it might help to let your buttercream crust really well before putting the top tier on. Some people use coconut between the frosting and board to prevent sticking, but that only works if the cake is for people who like coconut.
People who use straws to support their cakes are NOT using regular drinking straws, they are using the much larger and much thicker-walled bubble tea straws.
To prevent the frosting from sticking, make cake crumbs with the bits of cake you have to trim off to level the layers. Sprinkle a think layer of those crumbs where the cake board will go.
I use waxed cake board circles and pre-foil covered cake drums for all my cakes. Saves time. 
Edited to fix typo. 
Thanks for the help guys! I ran out to Michael's and bought the hollow plastic dowels for supports. Worked like a charm! I also covered the bottom side of my top cake board with wax paper and "royal iced" it to the bottom, then I sprinkled the cake crumbs on for good measure. It didn't stick a bit!! Here's the finished product:
prterrell: are the big bubble tea straws the red ones that you can cut with scissors instead of the hard ones you have to saw? if so where can you buy them at? Thanks
Bubble tea straws come in all sorts of colors (they're NOT the same as the slushie straws at gas-stations), but you can cut them with scissors. You can purchase them online and at Asian markets. I *think* they're also called "boba tea" straws.
The white hard plastic dowels that Wilton makes that are available in craft stores are not straws. I cut them using a serrated knife.
Personally, I use the plastic dowels or the SPS system.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%