Square Wedding Cake Question
Decorating By SummerSweets Updated 31 Jan 2011 , 2:00pm by SummerSweets
My brother and his wife have decided to renew their vows next year. They have decided they want a 3 tier square wedding cake with a fountain under it and columns betweed the tiers. I was looking online and read that the bottom tier has to be at least 14 in. for a round cake but I'm having trouble finding directions for a square cake. They will also want a grooms cake like this one, but with coke cans.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixchic/3055734527/
Any idea on how many servings that grooms cake is? Will the cans sink into the cake? What would be the best way to do that?
I'm going to try to work up a price this weekend. And if that's still what they want then I'm going to go ahead and start practicing with the fountain and columns since I've never done one like that before. I have a Hobby Lobby around here that I was going to get the fountain at. Would it be good to get the Wilton support system there too? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Sorry this is so long.
TIA!
My brother and his wife have decided to renew their vows next year. They have decided they want a 3 tier square wedding cake with a fountain under it and columns betweed the tiers. I was looking online and read that the bottom tier has to be at least 14 in. for a round cake but I'm having trouble finding directions for a square cake. They will also want a grooms cake like this one, but with coke cans.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixchic/3055734527/
Any idea on how many servings that grooms cake is? Will the cans sink into the cake? What would be the best way to do that?
I'm going to try to work up a price this weekend. And if that's still what they want then I'm going to go ahead and start practicing with the fountain and columns since I've never done one like that before. I have a Hobby Lobby around here that I was going to get the fountain at. Would it be good to get the Wilton support system there too? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Sorry this is so long.
TIA!
LOL! I KNOW I saw that cake on Cakewercks! Hope that comment doesn't ofend 
A 14" square is actually a bigger cake then a 14" round, but columns and fountains aren't popular here so I've never made one myself to tell you if it will work or not.
I can't tell the tier sizes, if I had to guess I'd say 8x10x12 because there doesn't seem like much of a lip from tier to tier. Your best bet is to find out how many servings they want then make the tiers to that.
I'd suggest using a regular square column system, cut a hole in the top/bottom of each can and put the column through it. I don't really see how they would have been able to really attach one tier to the other without it, and I wouldn't want to trust any weight bearing on the can.
Good luck, and I can't wait to see pictures!
Jen
My brother and his wife have decided to renew their vows next year. They have decided they want a 3 tier square wedding cake with a fountain under it and columns betweed the tiers. I was looking online and read that the bottom tier has to be at least 14 in. for a round cake but I'm having trouble finding directions for a square cake. They will also want a grooms cake like this one, but with coke cans.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixchic/3055734527/
Any idea on how many servings that grooms cake is? Will the cans sink into the cake? What would be the best way to do that?
I'm going to try to work up a price this weekend. And if that's still what they want then I'm going to go ahead and start practicing with the fountain and columns since I've never done one like that before. I have a Hobby Lobby around here that I was going to get the fountain at. Would it be good to get the Wilton support system there too? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Sorry this is so long.
TIA!
LOL! I KNOW I saw that cake on Cakewercks! Hope that comment doesn't ofend
A 14" square is actually a bigger cake then a 14" round, but columns and fountains aren't popular here so I've never made one myself to tell you if it will work or not.
I can't tell the tier sizes, if I had to guess I'd say 8x10x12 because there doesn't seem like much of a lip from tier to tier. Your best bet is to find out how many servings they want then make the tiers to that.
I'd suggest using a regular square column system, cut a hole in the top/bottom of each can and put the column through it. I don't really see how they would have been able to really attach one tier to the other without it, and I wouldn't want to trust any weight bearing on the can.
Good luck, and I can't wait to see pictures!
Jen
Hey no worries... No offense here. It wouldn't have been my first choice but that's what they want. Good thinking with putting the columns through the cans. I didn't think of that! lol. I was really scared of putting the weight of a full can on there... Hope they don't expect to be able to drink the soda out of the cans on the cake! I think I'm going to have to scale the cake down to fit their servings for sure.
I just wonder if 4 columns will be enough to hold the main wedding cake over the fountain. That's what really scares me. Once I know how big it will be... I'll be able to figure out the best size for the groom's cake. I'm really afraid they maybe wanting more cake than they really need.
Thanks!
Those columns support systems hold quite a bit of weight, use SPS, not Wilton.
Thanks so much! I was thinking about getting SPS instead. I'm so glad I have time to experiment and work out the kinks!
Thanks so much for your help!
why does the bottom tier "have" to be a 14"? 
the size of the cake is determined by how many servings you need. How many do you need?
here's a photo of a square cake on a fountain that I did in which the bottom tier was 12". The space between the 12" cake and the 16" square plate is taken up by the border and the cardboard (12" cake; 14" cardboard; 16" plate). http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1417180
Any cake you make can be picked up and placed on a fountain stand. And yes, those stands are VERY sturdy. Back in the 80's, when this was the ONLY cake brides were ordering, I did 4 and 5 tier cakes on top of fountains with not even the hint of a mishap. Don't measure the sturdiness by an empty stand ... once the weight of the cake is on it, it helps hold them in place. Very sturdy. Holds LOTS of weight.
----edited to add link to photo------
why does the bottom tier "have" to be a 14"?
the size of the cake is determined by how many servings you need. How many do you need?
I took it as though the cake has to be at least a 14 to fit the fountain under it.
I only make a cake that is a certain number of servings when I'm making it as cheap as possible for the customer. If I'm making one as a gift or if money isn't as big of a deal for the customer, I just make the size that looks good! As long as it's big enough, anyway.
indydebi
why does the bottom tier "have" to be a 14"?
It doesn't have to be. That's just what I read on Wilton's website about a round wedding cake over a fountain. They said it needed to be at least 14 inches for the bottom tier. So glad I came here too! The size of the cake you show would be perfect actually! I just wasnt for sure how small the bottom tier could go.
They're not sure on exactly how many servings yet (they're in the beginning stages of planning), so I was trying to get an idea of the minimum amount I could do with a cake like that so that I could get the minimum price and go from there. I want to be able to practice a tiered cake over a fountain a couple times before then.
Can I get the set up like you show in your picture in the SPS style?
Thank you so much!
why does the bottom tier "have" to be a 14"?
the size of the cake is determined by how many servings you need. How many do you need?I took it as though the cake has to be at least a 14 to fit the fountain under it.
No. The PLATE above and below the fountain has to be a certain size so the fountain fits inside the pillars. You can put a 6" cake on top of the 14" plate if you want. It'll look funny ..... but you can do it! 
The one that I made was a 12" cake on a 16" plate. I filled the excess space with the board and decor. If you stairstep it, the space is filled ("stairstep" = 16" plate, 14" board, 12" cake) and the difference is way less noticeable.
Here's a round one I did that is a 6/8/12 on an 18" plate. I stairstepped the boards plus the bride provided some large florals to fill in the gaps, something we talked about during the cake design session.
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1280470
Here's a long-shot of the cake: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55969028@N00/2976410246/in/photostream/
Ok that makes sense! Thank you so much. I knew they didn't need a 14 in. square cake on bottom because that would be too much cake. I got a message from my SIL over the weekend and they did a rough estimate of how many they're inviting and it was around 150. I'm definately going to play with the cake sizes and design to fit wtih their number of servings. Again, Thank you so much!
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