Im making a cake for my sons birthday this weekend..and had a few questions since im new at this...

Im trying to plan everything out...if anyone can help me with any of my questions that would be sooooooooo helpful!!!

1. Can I bake the cakes on tuesday for a saturday party and saran wrap it and freeze it?

2. I want to make a two tier cake (round). Do i need dowels for it? What size pans are good? I wanted a bigger round at the bottom and smaller at the top. (dont have many ppl....maybe 20)

3. I will use buttercream (too scared to try MMF-though I really want to!) Any tips on getting that smooth look. And when can I frost it? The day before?

4. I want to make spiderwebs using royal icing. How far ahead can I make those and how should I store them? And can I attach them to the cake and refigerate the cake?

5. I stacked a cake once before and I worry picking it up and putting it on top of the other -that it might break! How do you lift your frosted cakes?

6. If I try to make fondant buildings, can I easily attach the buildings to the buttercream and still refegerate the cake?

7. Unfortunatley I dont have Americolour Red (which ive read rave reviews about)...I have the Wilton no taste red...can I still get a good red colour?

Here are some cakes I loved and am inspired by...ofcourse cant recreate these...but was hoping to do something to this effect:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1422175.html

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_588473.html

Well first, I new at this to but have stacked cakes before. You shouldn't need to dowel for just two tiers, but if it makes you feel more comfortable...by all means. Use cake boards under your cakes, this will help you lift them. You can get them at walmart for a little bit of nothing. You can bake your cakes ahead of time; you will just want to make sure to remove them about 4 hours before you want to use them. MMF is so easy to make, if you want PM me and I'll walk you through the whole process start to finish. As far as size of pans- a 6x2" pan (two tier) serves 12. You will need 2 cups of batter per layer bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes filling pan 1/2 to 2/3 full. For an 8x2" pan (two tier) serves 20 You will need 3-1/2 cups of batter per layer and will bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes filling 1/2 to 2/3 full. As far as icing- You will need approximately 3 cups for your 6 inch and 4 cups for your 8 inch. When you start your icing put on a light layer of buttercream (This is call a crumb coat). Let that crust a little before putting on your 'second coat'. Once it has crusted, apply your second coat of icing. Try to smooth the icing as smooth as you can. There are some great videos on youtube that show how to do this. Let it crust. Once you can touch the icing without it sticking to your fingers take a VIVA paper towel and lightly rub it over the icing. This will smooth out any imperfections. Now you can do one of two things. You can either start to decorate it as it, or you can put fondant on it. Unless you PM on how to make fondant I'll assume you want to go ahead and decorate. I would make my webs at least 3 days ahead of time. Just in case you have any breakage issues. If you want to use royal icing you will want to remember that royal icing is made of raw egg whites (unless you are going to use meringue powder or pasteurized egg whites). I have read that you shouldn't place royal icing figures made from raw egg whites directly on the cake. Ok for put on popsicle sticks or the like. Here is a recipe with Meringue Powder: 3 Tbsp. Meringue Powder, 4 Cups PS, 6 Tbsp Water. Beat all ingredients at low speed for 7-10 minutes(for tabletop mixers) 10-12 minutes at high speed for portable mixers until icing forms peaks. This says to remove 1 tablespoon of water for tabletop mixers, but the last time I made it, it was a little dry and I ended up having to add some more anyway. To make your webs, draw them out on a sheet of plain paper, tape it to the bottom of a cookie sheet or moveable flat surface, tape saran wrap over the paper, put your royal icing in a decorating bag or a piping bad made from parchment paper. Pipe the royal icing over the lines on the paper, set aside to dry. Be patient. It takes a long time for them to dry depending on how thick you make them. But caution: if you make it to thin it will be easily. You can attach these to your cake with a little buttercream icing. As far as fondant buildings, I've never tried. Hope this helped. Like I said, I'm new at this too. Maybe someone else has better info, but that is how I would do it. Also, if you do want to dowel, place one in the center of your bottom cake and four around that, but not out further than you top tier. Does that make sense. Then just place your cake on cake board on top of the bottom dowels.

Need to edit my top post. Yes, you can bake your cakes ahead of time and you can freeze them. If you freeze them, however, you will want to remove them about 4 hours before you want to frost them. Also (But caution: if you make it to thin it will break easily. Happy cakin You may want to check out this video on youtube '

Hi Pickulz and welcome!

1. Definitely you can freeze. Make sure you keep the cakes covered til they are completely thawed.

2. 6" and 8" stacked is the smallest you can do, cabescakes gave you great info on that. Instead of dowels, you can use drinking straws, cut to the same size.

3. ditto. Frosting the day before is fine.

4. & 6. Since you are using butter cream, you don't need to refrigerate your cakes unless you use something perishable as the filling. If you do, put your decorations on after you take it out. Use a little BC to attach.

5. You would have a cake board (in this case a 6" one) under your cake.

7. The color will deepen a bit after you mix it. I've not used wilton colors in a long time, so I don't remember how good it will be.

Good Luck!

Did you consider icing both cakes in white and doing red and blue borders?
And black webs?

THANK YOU so much!!!!!!!!!!
cabecakes- thank you so much for the step by step instructions! So helpful!!! I have always wanted to ty MMF, but hesitated.

-Can I make MMF ahead of time and refegeriate and maybe even apply it to the cake a day before? I dont want to do anything the day of the party.

-I will use meriunge powder for the royal icing. I can make the webs 3 days ahead of time and maybe even try some letters. How shoudl I store the webs?

-I live in a pretty hot and humid climate

Flamingobaker:
Thanks for the straws idea. I think I will do that.
The reason I refederate the cakes even if in buttercream is because its so hot outside...seems like the icing is melting or something. I typically use just the premade icing(betty crocker or duncan hines etc)
And I like the idea of white icing and black webs...enver thought of that!!!

For a good red color with the wilton.... I usually dye it dark pink first, then add the red so that you don't have to use so much. It may still looks really dark pink, but dries to red.
I bake and freeze often....even when I don't need to. I think it's easier to ice them frozen.... then i let it "sweat", and pat some paper towels over it a few times. I let it sit out a while after that then use the viva method to smooth. ... this might be my imagination, but it seems like if i freeze cakes while they're still hot (wrapped up good), then ice them frozen....I get so many compliments on how moist they are.
I use the drinking straw or bubble straw method for stacking also....and will never go back to dowels! So easy.
If you refrigerate after fondant, the fondant can get shiny...then if you touch it after that, you'll have a print.
Good luck!!!