So I have an order for a 7 teir wedding cake for Thanksgiving weekend. Not only 7 tiers but also with seperators in between them. So this cake in the end she wants to be about 6 feet tall! Anyway the seperators that were used in the pic of the cake she wants, I can't find anywhere! So I tired to come up with some option for them. They do NOT want pillars, but the bride really likes the Globes for seperators. Not ideally what she wanted but it is as close to the look they want. So I need some ideas about what to use for seperators. if we use the globes she only wants the tallest I can get for all tiers and not them getting smaller. So I would need to get a bunch of sets of the 2.5 inch. I thought I could get the 3 inch but now I see that they are for base use only. Can the 3 inch still be used for between layers?? I have never used them before.

The seperators they ideally want is shaped like 2 bowls stacked bottom to bottom. Does that make sense? This cake that she has the picture of is several years old and I haven't a clue where the seperators came from. Anyone seen anything like this?

Anyone have any other ideas of what I can offer to use if the globes don't work??

I don't see a photo, but I have a suggestion.

Can you make something similar to the bowl shape from gumpaste & wrap it around a regular pillar? The pillar will support the cake & shouldn't damage the shape you make but I would still leave the tiniest distance to make certain there is no pressure on them.

mike elder did a post on cake structures. do a google search and see how you can improvise.

Wilton makes globe seperators. Not sure but you can check them out. I think they a;so have the bowls as well.

We need to see the picture if possible.

If the picture has 3 tiers with separator bowls, and the customer wants 7, it might be impossible. There is a limit to how many tiers you should balance.

This is a safe and durable support system for the 7 tier cake. http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E3143DE-475A-BAC0-52E8E24115E1EED0&fid=3E331070-475A-BAC0-59D1F5191FA0F3DB You can add globes of any diameter that have holes drilled through the middles, to fit over the clear pillars. This would be a DIY add-on at a proper price...do your google homework.

OK I also looked at the Wilton globe separators. The 3" globes would have to be drilled out to slide over the pillars. If you have access to a drill press to do this straight, OK. If not, then don't buy them.

Here is a scanned picture of what she gave me. Sorry you cant see alot. She gave me a black and white picture and then with the scan it sure isn't good!

<a href="http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/meandmy2sweethearts/?action=view&current=SCAN0008.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/meandmy2sweethearts/SCAN0008.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Lets try this again.....It won't let me edit. so weird.

That picture gets the general idea across. It looks like a replica of a 1950's cake scaled up to monster size with custom work in between the tiers.

You would have to use a plastic plate on the top of each tier underneath the back-to-back "bowls" (likely larger soup plates) otherwise they will sink into the cakes. You would also need to use scads of dowels.

Or else you can use a support system with a very heavy duty central pillar. The "bowls" can then be made out of plastic, styrofoam or dry gumpaste with holes through the middle...lots of work and $$$.

You can think about this but you need to get a proper quote for all this hardware. I would call a machine shop to get a price quote for drilling out those largest 3" globe pillars with 3/4" holes. The will be the right size for the support system that I referred to above, that is very stable for this height.

And that looks like a cake for 600+ people...is that really in the plan? then you need to look into buying half round pans for the largest tiers. Or suggest dummies for them...

The mom wants the monster of a cake. the daughter not so much, but she is letting her mom do it. It won't look like this cake she just wants it that tall. I have no idea why. I guess as a show off piece.

They do not want pillars but will go with the globe pillars. I was thinking if i could just use the 3 inch globe pillars they would be happy with that.

I am using a dummy for the bottom tier. She is insisting there be that much cake though. Because she wants to take some home as well as the inlaws.

Would it be better to do the bottom tier a dummy with the 16 inch cake directly on top of that for support or would it be better to do some of the middle tiers dummies? The top tier has to be real because the bride and groom are saving it.

Ya gotta love people who think they can stick antimatter for levitation between cakes...if you don't have some sort of pillar thing in the middle, the fancy stuff will NOT hold up in a cake this size.

Do the bottom tier as the dummy, that way it will be easier to carry to the site.

You can use the 3" globes after you have them drilled out to fit over the hidden pillars. Maybe buy one set and try to get them drilled before you commit to that whole idea.

You could also suggest styrofoam drums (3" deep dummies smaller than the tiers) in place of the bowls, then pillars will not be necessary. But you will need a plate on each side of each drum, and something like a 1-2" diameter plastic pipe down the middle to prevent sideways shifting after you pile this thing up. That means cutting holes through all the plates...more $$$...

FYI The Crystal Clear legs really do disappear when there is other stuff there to look at. Maybe you can get the bride to agree to something like clusters of flowers in front of the pillars? Or bows?

Wilton sells this one http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=6568490B-9DFD-FB09-52BC1F86102E86E5&fid=65684963-F142-F7D2-9A5CBBC7A2F1AE8B

As for this one http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=6568490B-9DFD-FB09-52BC1F86102E86E5&fid=65684963-F142-F7D2-9A5CBBC7A2F1AE8B I had thought about it, but wasn't sure how it would work since the 18 inch and the 16 inch are stacked......

Looks like you have a lot of work ahead of you my dear. From the look of the picture it is similar to my mother's wedding cake as far as "pillars" (though her's was considerably smaller). My grandmother made it by stack each layer on a light weight cake plate to achieve this look. Though I would be scared to try this on such a large scale.

Well, that scares me. lol

Honestly, it is just a plain smooth cake with pillars (or whatever)../. lol So it doesn't scare me really. Just the stacking...