I will be making a large cake for a friend next week and I can't decide what size cake drums to use for the tiered cake. The six 10" side cakes will be displayed on 12" boards sitting atop glass cylinder vases filled with led lights and pink water beads. The main cake will be displayed on a fountain stand. The 9 and 7" cakes will be displayed in the same fashion using the cylinder vases. My concern is the larger the cake drum the more it will cover or shadow the vases and flowers between the cakes. I was thinking about using 10 and 8 inch drums. The cakes will have ribbon around the bottom so I don't think she will want a butter cream border. What would all you wonderful bakers do? One inch difference in the board to see more of the decorations or a two inch larger board? Any help greatly appreciated.

One inch difference won't give you easy maneuvering of the cakes. You'll only have a half inch of space on either side. I would go two inches at least. It won't block the decorations.

It really depends on the overall look you ar going for. I have put wedding cakes on a drum the same size as the bottom tier before so tha it could go on a stand and look seamless. It works fine, you just have to slide your hands under and maneuver it carefully. Your cakes are small, so it wouldn't be a bad thing at all to go with a 1" lip or no lip at all if it would go with your design better. Generaly I like at least a 6" dfference for a visible board. So a 10" cake would get a 16" board giving you a nice 3" boarder, but sometimes the asthetics warrant a different approach.