OKAY I did it! I finished my first topsy turvy. I chickened out and did not put the center dowel through the middle. Luckly the cake made it safe and sound to it's destination. Thanks for all the advice everyone. And thanks madgeowens for giving me the courage!

Here it is if you want to take a look.

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1846029

just beautiful, a fantastic job

wow you did a great job, I bet your daughter was thrilled....I saved it....I will try three tiers too next time....I just dont know what to do with all that cake haha.........I really can hardly wait to be able to do another tt it was really fun......great job!!!! You made my day!!

p.s.
you are soooo lucky it was in one piece when you got there...be sure and use the center dowel....it goes in very easy just tap it gently....measure to be sure the top is not sticking out....also when it gets close to the top use a small dowel against that dowel and tap it in the rest of the way...nothing to it really
I love your cake!

Thanks so much! It really was a lot of fun and I was way more nervous than I needed to be.

Madgeowens I will definately use a center dowel next time, especially if attempt a 3-tier. But I'm having the same problem as you. It's just so darn much cake! Even this 2-teir was way more cake than we needed.

debbief, what size were your tiers?

You can also build a TT cake with SPS! Then you don't need that center dowel.

Yes, I know....I dont think I will evr have the opportunity to make a three tier. I use a center dowel in all my cakes for added support, even the cheerleader one I just did had it in there

yes it dose debbie, thanks

I'm sorry, I know this sounds..., well ignorant on my part but I am just getting to know all the abbreviations, what is SPS?? Icubed82 stated that you can build it with SPS and then you don't need the center dowel.
Thanks so much!
This was my firt attempt at a TT. What do you do with ALL that cake! My goodness you need an army to feed! LOL

[/url]http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1812658.html

hope the link works[/quote]

This cake is actually my first big attempt for a TT cake, this one was done for a Wedding and I must say that I felt really good with this cake.

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1839970

Before this one, I made just a couple TT cakes but really small ones.
What I can tell you about this kind of cake: you cannot make mistakes when you build one of this, that will hurt your entire construction.
The type of cake you must use is one that is sturdy enough: wasc, pound cake, madeira cake etc.
Filling: I only use butter cream or ganache
You have to sit down to think about the sizes of your cakes.

For this one I used: bottom layer: one 13" x 2" plus one 12'x 2" the topper side of this one was flat , and i just carved 1" difference on the sides .
the next layer: 10/9/8
next: 8/7/6
topper:6/5/4

this way i carve less cake, and can produce a taller tier.
The second layer from bottom to top, was carved on the top just like we have seen on you tube. I did not carve diagonally the next one and i finally did it on the topper tier. I was just simply afraid of not having enough stability. I cover everything in chocolate ganache and cool overnight (this step is really important). To cover this cakes I have noticed MMF works the best (for me) is much more flexible and dries slowly. I used hollow plastic dowels as support. I set up at venue. And finally I used a long sharp wooden dowel all through the center of the cake. HTH.

wow lanana thats four tiers!!!!!!!!!!!!! great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a gorgeous cake lanana! And thanks for the great details in the construction!

What do you say Madgeowens, 4 tier next? Just kidding, I'd love to try, but again, who's gonna eat all that cake

Llana, I am curious how many serving did that end up being for you with 4 tiers?

They look so cool......I wish I had the opportunity to make a three tier....but I cannot figure when I would ever get to make a four tier lol.....thats a lot of servings.......I had so much fun doing the tt, I can't wait to be able to do another...maybe Christmas hehe

sweets99 here is your link, the other one does not work

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1812658


great job on your tt

they saved the topper tier. and they needed aroud 130 servings. When I spoke with the brides mother, she never mentioned anything like we had too much cake left over, or anything like ohh, part of our guest couldn´t eat cake because we didn´t have enough cake. I never use the wilton cutting chart, honestly 12 servings out of a 6¨ cakes, it doesn´t look serious for me. But it´s just my point of view.

Yeah we cut wampin big ol pieces around here hehehe

You can just do it in butter cream

this one is actually all butter cream. But it can turn really messy!! not totally sure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QhBbNeGBmI&p=5699778AEC5C521C&feature=list_related&playnext=1

Did you see that top tier wiggling around when she was done............don't think I would trust that....

As far as bc, if you decorate with fondant dots and stripes or stars or whatever you can hide a multitude of oopsies

If you check ednas cakes...tonedna......I think most of hers are buttercream, they are so smooth and beautiful, amazing really