I am stacking a cake for my little boy's birthday party this weekend. I have never successfully stacked a cake before. I have a few questions. 1) What do I put on the bottom of the top layer to keep the dowels from poking through that cake? 2) My cakes never seem to come out tall enough to look good stacked. Do I need 3 layers? 3) What is a good recipe for a sturdy cake (chocolate and white)? How much will I need for a 6" and 8" stacked? Any help would be greatly appreciated! 
Hi Katie all tiers that are going to go on top of one another need a cake board underneath each of the cakes that are going to rest on the dowels. The dowels support the cake board. So say if you base is 10, then the next size is 8 you need an 8" board and so on.. It doesn't matter what cake you make it is the support system that will keep the cake up. Have a look on the recipes sections in CC the ladies supply loads of recipes to choose from.
Are you covering the cakes with buttercream or fondant? You must allow each cake to dry thoroughly before stacking otherwise when you stack the cakes you are likely to dent them etc if they are not dry enough. Use the cake boards as a guideline for where you place the dowels. They need to go inside the outside edge of each cake board. one in the centre and a couple round the outside. don't put too many in as it won't be great when cutting in. hope this helps. let me know if you need any more help.
Thanks AllAboutCake! Very useful information! Most of the cake boards I have seen extend beyond the cake, can you purchase cake boards the exact size of the cake or do most people cut their own?
I always trim my cardboard cake circles to fit the size of my cake. Just trace the cake and cut 
I use bubble tea straws as my supports and I love them because they are easy and inexpensive. I bought mine on ebay.
Thanks AllAboutCake! Very useful information! Most of the cake boards I have seen extend beyond the cake, can you purchase cake boards the exact size of the cake or do most people cut their own?
No problem happy to help. I always purchase cake boards that are the exact size of the cake but obviously sometimes depending on how your cake bakes up and the icing on too can make a difference but i don't normally have a problem. As the other CC person said you can cut your own cake boards too which is especially helpful for unusual shapes etc
happy stacking
I've been making cakes over 25 years and am still afraid to stack! I have read a good idea that when you place the dowels into the cake, don't push them all the way down so that you can leave yourself some finger space. The weight of the cake will push the dowels down the rest of the way giving you enough time to pull your fingers away.
it is a scary process when you have iced all your tiers. My friend who is a cake maker was there for my 4 tier stacking. She said its a case of "pulling the plaster off" and doing it. I was surprised at how well it went. I think it is a case of feel the fear and do it anyway I think as long as all the dowels are the same length and icing is dry it should go smoothly. I put in all my dowels and mark them with an edible ink pen, take them out, wrap them with tape so they are all together and the same length then find the middle length as undoubtedly there will be one that is marked longer the others. Using the middle of all lengths works well. it was my first 4 tier and I was 1mm out on levelness. I use a spirit level too to check its all even
Well, I did it! The cake stacking went very smooth thanks to all of your advice! Everyone loved it and couldn't believe I did it! Thank you for all of your advice. Now, to figure out how to add an image... 
Brilliant i'm glad it went well I look forward to seeing the pics!
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