Stacking Cake Tiers
When stacking cake tiers, have handy a piping bag with a small round tip, filled with the cake’s icing (for an iced cake) or royal icing (for a fondant-covered cake) to act as glue in between the cake tiers and for covering up the hole on the top tier created by the wooden dowel.
TOOLS:
- piping bag with a small round tip filled with icing or royal icing
- large flat spatula
- wooden dowel
- pencil-sharpener or utility knife
- clippers or small handsaw
Start with the bottom tier, most
likely the largest cake. Pipe a small amount of icing on top of
each straw as well as in the very center of the cake.
Take out the cake that will be
tiered next, most likely one size smaller. Place a large flat
spatula under the cake board and lift the cake up.
Center the cake on top of the
previous tier, leaving the cake board underneath the cake for
support. Continue stacking the cakes on top of one another until
you reach the top tier.
Place a dowel next to the cake and
mark the height of the cake on the dowel with a pencil.
Trim the dowel with the clippers or
a small handsaw. Shave down the rough end to a point (I find using
an electric pencil sharpener most helpful, but a utility knife
works as well).
Insert the sharpened dowel through
the center of the cake until it reaches the bottom. The dowel is
essential for keeping the layers aligned in a tiered cake. If
measured correctly, the dowel should not be sticking out of the
icing.
Pipe a small amount of icing where
the dowel went through the top of the cake and smooth it over with
spatula.