I was at the party where I supplied the cake, two movie reels stacked. I used straws for putting the smaller cake on top. It sat for one full day before the party. I got to be the one to cut it and I'm glad I was. What a mess! When I lifted the small cake off, the bottom cake fondant and chocolate icing was such a gooey mess, it just disentagrated! Everyone loved the design so much and the cake I could get cut was good, that it didn't matter too much to the crowd. But how could I have avoided this. I had to put a bit of icing on the top of the fondant to hold the top cake. So whats the answer to stacking securely. I don't think it was big enough to put a dowel through, but maybe I should have huh? Here is a pic of the cake before I cut it. I don't have the messy pic. I just want to forget it[/img]

Did you put wax paper underneath the cardboard of the stack plate?

It helps with this
Edna

Photo would not load, its on my photos

No, no wax paper. I thought I needed to secure it, so I put a dolop of icing under it.

The carboard sticks to the fondant or the buttercream. It will rip everything appart.
Wax paper helps to avoid this.
Edna

I had to take one of my cakes apart last night (don't ask) and I must say that as another benefit to SPS, the plastic plate doesn't stick to the buttercream (well I put some coarse sugar under the plate, and because the cardboard under the top tier is sitting on a plastic plate, it stays intact.

So would you put the wax paper on the top of the bottom layer then a dolop of icing then the next tier? I just don't get how to keep the next tier secure?

If I'm understanding this right you took a top tier which was on a cardboard round and stacked it on top of a fondant covered tier that had a dollop of buttercream on it? Yup, the BC will soften up the fondant and make for a gooey mess. Next time remember you don't have to use BC to secure the two tiers together. I don't put wax paper or powdered sugar or anything between the tiers and they come off of each other just fine because the fondant has had set up time in between the covering and stacking steps. The cardboard round keeps the moisture away from the fondant so no moisture to make the bottom tier gooey.

As I've said before, this cake decorating stuff is a steep learning curve<G>.

Cat

Thank you all! I will not be putting any icing between the layers anymore.

I dont put the wax paper on the cake. I cover the cardboard with wax paper on both sides. The main reason I do that is so that the cardboard gets protectec and doesnt get all greasy. That grease not only will make the cardboard not strong enough but will make it stick to the cake below.

Edna