I have been asked to do a 5 tier cake dummy for my cousin's upcoming wedding with one tier being real just for photo ops. We will have sheet cakes to feed the guests. With that being said is 2 inch size difference enough between each tier or should I go 4 inch difference? I am just planning on wrapping ribbon on bottom of each tier and then placing gumpaste flowers randomly on each tier. What are your recommendations? Thank you all in advance.
my favorite is usually a three inch difference--but that kinda makes a monster big cake--it just depends on the look you are after--there is no wrong way
5 x 8 x 11 x 14 x 17-- for three inch difference
for 2" it'd be maybe 6 x 8 x 10 x 12 x 14--i like this best for this configuration or even 5 x 7 x 9 x 11 x 13
a four inch difference would be very very large cake
4 x 8 x 12 x 16 x 20 or 6 x 10 x 14 x 20 x 24
if i did the math right ;)
but i think a 5" cake on top a 17" bottom tier or even a 6" cake on top of an 18" bottom tier looks a little pointy headed--i think it needs a tall ish topper to balance out--or a 7 or 8 inch top tier--imo
an idea for you is to cut the different size circles out of newspaper so you can stack them up and see what looks good to you--you can stack them up if you use dishes or wahtever youi can find--small vbooks to get the right height
Thank you for the quick responses. My only concern with the two inch difference is having enough room to place the gumpaste flowers. I was looking at the dummies offered on Dallas Foam and couldn't tell if the 2 inch difference gave enough room.
Also, do you prefer the contoured round cakes or the reg? I realize there is a difference in look, but was wondering if the reg. rounded ones tore the fondant?
Finally, do you BC or RI your dummies or just spritz with water or Crisco before applying the fondant?
Thanks for your guidance.
you are very welcome--
i sand off the top edge of the dummy because yes it does tend to tear the fondant--i use water to apply--
the flowers--just depends on how deep they are--but you could make a few sprays even and just dig a hole in the foam to stick them in too--it's just foam after all--cover it up with leaves--
so you will have a one inch ledge all the way around when you use the 2" difference in tier sizes--
but if you set the tier back asymmetrically you can get a bigger ledge if you want to do that--if there's a 'front & back' to the cake--if it's not a 360 degree placement on the cake table it's more effective to do it off center--but there are no hard & fast rules--
and try to keep the guest count in mind--if there's several hundred guests then go with the larger bottom tiers--and for a 16" tier that's 4" tall you're going to need to roll out a 25-26 inch slab of fondant--not for the timid--hope you have experience--or have time to practice--
thoughts for you
K8Memphis,
I have made several real cakes in the past and thankfully my husband rolls out my fondant for me as I have very little upper body strength. There will be about 250 attendees. I was thinking of going with the 14, 12, 10, 8, 6 tier sizes with either the 8 or 10 being real. The real cake will be for photo ops reasons. Recommendations on which tier would be better for the photo ops? There will be sheet cakes in the back for guests. I'm going to order the dummies today from Dallas foam. I think I'm going with the contour one to save me from having to sand. Hopefully, they will be smooth so there will be no need to pre-frost. I really appreciate everyone's help and so quick. I will be working on them by the end of November and the wedding is on January 4.
i think that's a good idea for the contour edge--they will be very nice & smooth--
any tier will work for the photos--nice that your husband does the rolling for you--very cool--
fwiw--when i did cakes--i stood on a stool so i could lean into the rolling pin and use my upper weight instead of strength even though i'm about 5'8" and did not need the stool for the height exactly--
and if you will want to have a way to adhere the dummies to your turntable- poke a flat head nail into the center of a piece of foamcore--tape that onto your turntable nail up--so you can sick the dummies onto it and they won't be sliding all over--not that you didn't know that already--
;)
sounds like so much fun--best of luck to you
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