how do i set a 3 tier wedding cake?

Question

Right my sister in law was on a very tight budget. she was given silly prices for a 3 tier cake. Then she thought of baking it. so we helped her out and its just a plain white iced round cake size 10,8 & 6.
we have a round base in silver where the 10" cake will sit, but we need to put these little roman pillars inbetween each tier.

Trouble is the the 8 & 6" cakes are not staying quite stable on the pillars and are abit wobbly and could or keep threatening to fall off!

How could we secure the cake and make a 3 tier cake. do we take the cake off the cake boards?

help she's in tears!!!

Answer 1

I have made many wedding cakes its part of my job.Each cake needs to be on a thick board,thin boards are too flimsy.Pillars are hollow so you need dowels to go through in to the cake.
You can buy dowels from a cake decorating department buy the longest.Place the pillars on the cake where you want them when its finished push the dowel through the pillar into the cake take a knife and mark the do well flat against the top of the pillar,remove the dowel and cut the dowel at the mark with a knife this needs to be level,when you have done this put the do well back into the cake down through the pillar,do this to all the pillars.Remember the longer the pillar the stronger the do well needs to be,so in simple terms use shorter pillars and your cake will be more stable.

Answer 2

if u need to use the pillars, leave it on the boards, but make sure u use dowling or they wont hold, a good strong piece of plastic that looks like an elonggated rawl-plug, u can find them at most cake decoration shops.
If u dont need the gap in between the layers just stack them, without the boards and use some coulored royal icing turned into flowers if ur sis is up to it or just pipe it round the join to concel the layers.
Also remember that the heaviest layer needs to be the base or it will unbalance the hole cake. Im a chef and u wouldnd belive the amount of cakes ive had to fix because of this!!!
I hope everything goes all right for her.

Answer 3

Are you in the UK? Marks & Spencers do a range of plain white iced cakes - either sponge or fruit that are PERFECT as a wedding cake and they also sell the little pillars (they come with a little riser rod that you push into the cake to stabalise it before covering it with the pillar) to raise each tier. Very reasonably priced and tasty - can be ordered or bought (pillars only in larger stores I think). I also think a lot of the larger supermarkets now do a similar range too. Buy the plain cake and decorate it yourselves. I was really happy with how mine turned out and it was a fraction of the cost from a bakers. Good luck.

Answer 4

If you are worried about the cake collapsing, current trends have lead to cakes being more understated and of minimalist design. For examples, a popular design at the moment is a cake with the tiers stacked together with no pillars, decorated with fresh flowers.

May solve your problem, good luck.

Answer 5

measure the height of each cake and pillar, cut wooden dowling to same size, insert 3 pieces of dowling evenly into each cake and place pillars over them and place each cake gently on top.

Answer 6

Eat the top two tiers quickly- no one will even notice.

Answer 7

This is an easy way for a novice to present a fabulous wedding cake

http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E30C7B9-475A-BAC0-577C0E4EBB910F92&fid=8EF8D699-423B-522D-FD258DB2E8A516A8

Answer 8

set it like building blocks on on top of the other

Answer 9

with great difficulty but if you realy wanna know, ask my sexy mate Jo Brand. LOL