In about five weeks I am making a cupcake stand for a former colleague's wedding. There will be about 75 cupcakes, and a 6" cutting cake on top.

I am to provide the stand for the cupcakes, and have been looking around the internet for ideas on how to do this. I think I know how to do it with cake boards and some kind of separator in between the boards.

My worry is however, that because there are so many cupcakes, there will have to be 6 tiers which makes it quite high, and when the couple tries to cut the cake the whole thing will tip over from the pressure from the knife.

I don't yet know what to use in the middle as separators, but it will most likely be cake dummies which doesn't weigh anything. ´
I have seen stands made with a thin "tube" as separator, and would much prefer this as I could then do with 5 tiers because the separator takes up less space. But I am no DIY, and have no Idea how to go about this.

Ideas and suggestions are very welcome as to how I can make the stand more stable. Thanks in advance.

If I was making a cupcake stand that tall, I would make sure the base was heavy and wide enough to keep it from tipping over. I don't think I would trust cake boards if the bride and groom are going to cut the top-tier cake on it. The 7-tier cupcake stand in my photos is made of wood and flower pots with a center rod holding it together. It is very sturdy.
One tip: Attach something to the bottom of the stand to elevate it so you can get your fingers under it to lift it.

I ask the bride and Groom to take the top cake down and place it on the table before they cut it.
Also, it would help you to make a mock up first. Place wrappers on it to figure out what size stand you will need. The top cake might be heavy. Just make sure the stand is very sturdy.

Would you consider square boards? I make my towers with square boards and there is then more room = fewer tires.
Of course it depends on how big the boards are, but I recently fit 100 cupcakes and the cake on top with only 4 tiers (and there was still room in the back. I make mine from foam core board, styro in between. DH made wooden base with a big dowel in the center that goes up through holes in the boards and the styro for stability.

It's in my photos - black and white cupcakes

I assume there will be pictures of the cake cutting. A six or seven tier stand on a table will be tall. Envision the bride and groom on tippy toe, arms raised, trying to cut the cake.

They will have to take the cake off the stand and place it on the table to cut it unless they want shots of their pits and of their arms covering their faces while cutting the cake.

Thanks all for your help, I knew I could get help here

The square boards would help a lot, but I don't think the bride will care for square boards. I don't know if I even want to suggest it, because she has taken two months to decide on what colour she want the buttercream to be, imagine how long it would take for her to decide if square would be all right

I like the idea of using wood, at least for the base, and I might talk my father in to helping me with this - I can always try bribing him with cake
Otherwise, telling the bride about having to stand on tip toe to cut the cake might easily convince her to take the cake down to cut, which is, in my opinion, the easiest solution.

Again, thank you.

I had a stand like the one you're describing built for me. It's in my pictures. It was made of all wood. He used three dowels in each layer. The three dowels line up and are in the same spot on each layer, if that makes sense.

This design held about 100 cupcakes plus the 6 inch cake on top. He used a very heavy, thick board for the base.

Do you HAVE to ask/tell the bride that the cake stand would be square? I mean, unless she has specifically asked for a round one, what difference does it make as long as it is sturdy, looks nice, and fits the overall design?

I don't ask. And I use what I have available. I have three different stands. The round styro one I made for a smaller amount of cupcakes and mini cuppies; a wood square one that I made (in my photos) for a LOT of cuppies, and then I just bought a seven tier square acrylic one that I can change the amount of tiers on.

I can send directions for the wood one if you want. Pretty easy IF you have the tools and courage! Good Luck!!

Not sure how handy you are or anyone you know, but I made a square cupcake tower for a bridal shower I did this year. It is basically four square boxes that sit on each other. We took it a step further and added trim, but you don't have to(you can just tac ribbon around the top. The top cake box needs to be slighlty bigger than your small cake, then the remaining tiers just increase in size. I think I did a 10", 18", 26", 34". You want about 4" all the way around each box.

The remainder of the cupcakes go down around the base are artfully aligned on the table. The joy of this design is that the boxes stack inside of each other for transport. You can use which ever layers you need to accomodate the number of cuppies you made.

I didn't get much interest when I posted the pics, but they are in my gallery. I am going to reuse this stand next January and uplight each tier with xmas lights so it glows underneath. I will simply raise each level(on corners with glass(legs) I am customizing to fit in the box(without being permanent). Then I am going to shove under each box a bunch of lights, drill a hole down the center of all layers and snake the lights through. Please post your pics when you are done. Feel free to pm me with any questions. Good luck!

75 cupcakes really isn't all that many and I can't imagine you'd need 6 tiers unless the rounds were really small. It's pretty normal to place the "bottom" tier of cupcake on the table.

I've done several 250-300 cupcake weddings with the Wilton Tall Tier stand.

Perfect timing...a CCer posted photos of the cupcake stand that her husband crafted for her. This looks to be very sturdy, and you could modify the number of tiers of the stand to fit the number of cupcakes you are serving.

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1749541

Hi all

Thank you so much for all your help and pictures. You have no idea how much I appriciate it.

I am not good with tools and such, but my father is. Unfortunately he doesn't have the right tools, but he told me that he would ask his neighbour and friend who is a carpenter if he could do something like this. My father even offered to pay for it. (I'll have to bake him a cake just for offering )

I told him everything you've told me here, including all of the photoes, and he could see no problem for his neighbour in making a cupcake stand that would be sturdy and large enough. The neighbour is a very good carpenter, I know because he has helped both my parents and myself before.

Once again, thank you for your help. I will post a picture when the stand is finished. Have a very good weekend.

It's here! I've got it http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1763492

My parents' neighbour made a cupcake stand for me and I love it. It took him a couple of hours and some leftover wood and that was it. He didn't want anything as payment, but I am baking cupcakes for him as I write.

The best part is that the stand is completely stable and comes apart.
Instead of one long middle stick, he's made four smaller ones that are screwed together with the plates in between. This also means that I can make it smaller if I only need three tiers.

The plates are 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 inches and I am already planning several occasions where I can use it Once again, thank you so much for your suggestions and ideas.

Great cupcake stand!

My best advice...buy an acrylic 5 or 7 tier stand..they are about $100.00..here is both sizes...

www.flourconfections.ca


I guess if I would have read all the way down the page I would have noticed you already have a great one built by your neighbor!!!

Nice stand by the way!!!