Help With Stacking Cakes...

Decorating By roxie007 Updated 23 Feb 2010 , 7:32pm by Adevag

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roxie007 Posted 22 Feb 2010 , 8:04pm
post #1 of 14

I have two cakes to pull off this week, and I haven't had much experience with stacking cakes...any advice you can give me on the cake boards to use for the stacked cake (not the bottom cake), I have cardboard cake boards, what should I cover this with for the 2nd & 3rd cake...and what if the cake shrinks and the 6" round cake is smaller than the 6" round board...should I trim the cake board so it doesn't peek out?

Any 'stacking' tips you can provide would be GREAT!

13 replies
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metria Posted 22 Feb 2010 , 10:09pm
post #2 of 14

I'm still a beginner, but I've learned a lot from this site. I trim my cardboard cake boards to the size of the baked cake (e.g. my 6" rounds sometimes turn out to be more like 5.5" ... so I cut out a 5.5" circle). I cover both sides of the board with Press'n Seal.

I've been stacking with bubble tea straws.

HTH!

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roxie007 Posted 22 Feb 2010 , 11:06pm
post #3 of 14

Thanks! Bubble tea straws that is an excellent idea! I have a bunch of cookie sticks...they are a bit thin, but I think they'll do the trick!

Thanks for the reply- I always wondered how people could keep the board from sticking out...cause my cake always shrinks a bit!

Cheers icon_smile.gif

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metria Posted 22 Feb 2010 , 11:20pm
post #4 of 14

It's difficult to not smudge the icing when you pick up a tier by the board and try to place it on another tier. another tip i read is to only insert your supports (e.g. bubble tea straws) only partially into the lower tier. then place your upper on it and let gravity take it all down...that way you have some time to gingerly get your fingers out from under the cake ... use your spatula to coast it down.

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LuvLyrics Posted 23 Feb 2010 , 12:03am
post #5 of 14

Hi ladies, I am new too, but here is a link from Edna, she is a contributor here too and does amazing work teaching, she has many tutorials in youtube...I use wooden dowels for mine b/c they are stronger.

here is her link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvaCSW78ybc&feature=related

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Renaejrk Posted 23 Feb 2010 , 12:13am
post #6 of 14

The only problem with using the thin cookie sticks is they could "push over" and cause a collapse.

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Ballymena Posted 23 Feb 2010 , 8:38am
post #7 of 14

Check out my post in Cake Disasters, there are lots of fool proof answers there.
I don't know how to make the link live so you will have to do a search.
5 layer wedding cake disaster

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leah_s Posted 23 Feb 2010 , 12:20pm
post #8 of 14

1. Do NOT trim the board. The area between the cake and the edge of the cardboard is where the icing goes. Use the edge of the board as a guide for your knife or bench scraper to smooth your icing.

2. Do NOT use cookie sticks. They may look sturfy, but they are made of paper. They will soak of moisture and are at risk of collapsing. If the cookie sticks go, so will your cake.

3. If you feel for some reason you want to cover your cake boards between the tiers, go ahead, but there is absolutely no reason to do so. I have never covered an interior cardboard in 11 years. no problems.

4. And of course my advice for stacking is use SPS!

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artscallion Posted 23 Feb 2010 , 1:07pm
post #9 of 14

I never trim my boards either. As Leah said, that space gets filled by your frosting/fondant.

I never cover my interior cake boards either. Never had a problem.

I use bubble straws. I find, because of their width and structure, they are actually sturdier than dowels. And they're much easier to cut to size.

To stack, I take a cake board of the same size as tier 2 and center it on top of tier one. I lightly mark around the edges so that when I remove it, I have a circle to guide the next tier's placement.

I pick up tier 2 by sliding an extra large offset spatula under it, gently place one edge on the matching circle I've marked on tier 1, so that the raised edge is just 1/2" above the surface. Then I pull the spatula out, letting the tier fall into place.

Don't trim your bubble straws to the height of the cake they're inserted into. This will only make the layer above it make how level that cake surface is. If you insert one straw into the lowest point in the cake, mark it. Cut all straws to that exact same length, your next tier will be perfectly level, even if the top of the bottom tier isn't.

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luddroth Posted 23 Feb 2010 , 1:20pm
post #10 of 14

Read Leah's thread on SPS. It's all you'll ever need to know -- marked with a "sticky" in the forum.

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roxie007 Posted 23 Feb 2010 , 4:21pm
post #11 of 14

Thanks everyone for the excellent tips!!
Cheers icon_smile.gif

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Adevag Posted 23 Feb 2010 , 6:48pm
post #12 of 14
Quote:
Originally Posted by metria

I cover both sides of the board with Press'n Seal.
HTH!




What is Press'n Seal? Where could I find it? I have only covered the upper side (facing the cake) of the cardboard cake boards before but have thought of covering both sides.

I hope this is not far off the topic on this thread but since I don't make that many cakes I get so many questions.
Leah, I thought since cardboard is paper also that the moisture from the cake would be soaked into the cardboard and no longer be able to hold the weight of the tier. But I must be wrong since all your experience pretty much proves that the card boards can take it!
I also read in previous threads that the cake could end up tasting like the cardboard. Not my own experience but after reading that is when I started covering mine.
Oh, here is another question. When you make one tier that is taller than normal and would use boards and dowels (or straws), would that cake board need to be covered since it is inside the cake?

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Renaejrk Posted 23 Feb 2010 , 6:52pm
post #13 of 14

Press'n seal is a type of plastic wrap - it is Glad brand. It has suction type qualities that helps it stick to surfaces - it works great for covering cardboard! I use it on mine, but I have used cardboard without and the cardboard is fine - most have a coating on it that protects it some anyway.

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Adevag Posted 23 Feb 2010 , 7:32pm
post #14 of 14
Quote:
Originally Posted by Renaejrk

Press'n seal is a type of plastic wrap - it is Glad brand. It has suction type qualities that helps it stick to surfaces - it works great for covering cardboard! I use it on mine, but I have used cardboard without and the cardboard is fine - most have a coating on it that protects it some anyway.




Thank you, I will try that next time.
Oh, I did not know about the coating on the boards -that makes sense!

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