Tutorial Preview
Skill level:
Easy
HD Lessons:
6
00:55
1. Overview
01:27
2. Stacking Cakes - Background info
12:01
3. Stacking Cakes - Stacking a 3 tier Round Cake
You may also want to looks that the following lessons for background information
09:21
4. Stacking Cakes - Stacking a 3 Tier Square Cake
00:55
5. Stacking Cakes - Cleaning Ganache
04:01
6. Stacking Cakes - Common problems
This is one of those subjects that can scare new cake decorators a little. Lifting up perfect cakes and balancing them on top of one another can seem a little daunting. Well, not after you’ve watched this free course! After taking this course you will have the confidence to stack 3 tiered cake and really move on to a “higher” level of cake decorating!
Click here for printable tools and ingredients list
- 6” (15.2cm),8”(20.3cm) ,10” (25.4cm) Round and Square covered cakes
- 14” (35.6cm) Round and Square cake drums
- 8” (20.3cm), 6” (15.2cm) Round and Square cake cards
- Royal icing
- Food pen
- Dowels (various types)
- White alcohol spirit
- Palette knife
- Scriber tool
- Wire cutters
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Paint brush
Hello,
I loved this video , it is very helpfull for beginners like me, but i do have a question: don’t you put any thin cake boards under each tier?
thanks for your help!!
i was wondering the same thing .. i hope they respond soon
Hi All,
Sorry about the late reply. Yes there are definitely either cake boards or cake cards under each cake. There are a few other videos that talk about this http://www.designer-cakes.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/using-ganache/#using-ganache-preparing-a-cake-to-be-transferred
http://www.designer-cakes.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/tools-overview/#tools-cake-drums-and-cake-cards
and if you watch all of the Using Ganaching course as well as the icing cakes course also in the free section it will bring you up to were Paul is starting from here.
I’ll make some notes in the page to link to these other section. Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Let me know if I can help out any more
Cheers
Paul Doffman
Customer Support
Dear Paul: (if it is possible) then i really appreciate if you show us how to cut the cake and remove dowels, seriously for some (included me) its a great help. Thanks
Hi Khurram, I’ll pass this on to Paul
Cheers
Paul Doffman
Customer support
Hi, your videos are fab. Thanks very much for sharing. I also have a question. Do you have a thin board under each of your stacked cakes, and if so, are they the same size as each stacked cake or slightly smaller?
Hi,
Yeah there is a cake card under each cake and yes its the same size and the baked cake. The icing and ganache cover the side of the card. You can also used a cake board for extra height.
Here a video about it: http://www.designer-cakes.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/using-ganache/#using-ganache-preparing-a-cake-to-be-transferred
Hope that helps
Cheers
When you stack the tiers, is there a cake board (card) underneath each tier, or are the dowels alone enough to support the different cakes. Many thanks.
Hi Alex,
No you definitely need cards or drums under the cakes. Please see the lesson: http://www.designer-cakes.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/stacking-cakes-overview/
Cheers
Paul Doffman
Customer Support
Hi, so the middle dowel doesn’t have to be bigger than the others and that’s enough to keep the cake steady right?
Hi Sarah,
No I’ve never seen paul use a larger middle dowel and this is definitely enough for any normal cake.
Cheers
Paul Doffman
Customer Support
I love their courses, could tell me how much would have to pay in dollars
Hi,
At the current conversion rate it would be $15.95
Drop me an email if you have any more questions about our membership: [email protected]
Cheers Paul Doffman
Customer Support
Thank u for sharing… this helps a lot 🙂
if I’m not mistaken, there isn’t any card board under each cakes. it’s only on the bottom cake. is it correct ? how can the dowels support the cake, if they are the same height as the cake?
There are boards under each cake: http://www.designer-cakes.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/using-ganache/#using-ganache-preparing-a-cake-to-be-transferred
The dowels and the boards act a little like a table. The dowels being the legs and the card being the table top distributing the weight evenly to each leg.
Hope that helps
Cheers
Hi, Lovely tutorials, thank you 😉 I would like to ask you regarding stacking the cakes, if you decorate each tier first and you want to stack later after the delivery- can you do that or you would advice to do it when it is fresh? thank you xx
Hi,
Sometime Paul will stack at a venue if it’s a particularly hard cake to transport and he may even place things like sugar flowers in pre positioned poesy pics at a venue. In general thought Paul would stack a cake then decorate makes it easy to stack and prevents the decorations from being damaged.
I you might also want to ask in our Q&A http://www.designer-cakes.com/questions
Here’s a link to our free flowers tutorial for more info on the poesy pics thing:http://www.designer-cakes.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/basic-flowers-overview/#basic-flowers-adding-the-flower-to-the-cake
Hope that helps
Cheers
Dear Paul,
Thank you for the invaluable information & tips. You have helped me a lot 🙂
Regards,
Jaja
Malaysia
Glad this helped you out 🙂
Is there a cake card under each cake when you take it off the cake drum when you stack the cake up on the straws?
yeah there is a cake drum or sometime card under each tier :http://www.designer-cakes.com/using-ganache-prepearing-a-cake-to-be-transfered
Cheers
I didn’t notice if you had a card under each tier?
Hi
Yeah there is a card under each tier. : http://www.designer-cakes.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/using-ganache/#using-ganache-preparing-a-cake-to-be-transferred
Cheers
Hi there! yes there is. The cake cards gives more stability to the cake structure. Hope that helps 🙂
Hi Paul, the you still use 9 dowels on each tier on a 3 tier round cake? Thanks
Yeah Paul tends to use the same about of dowel on small cakes as well just to be safe.
Cheers
Dear Paul, would you recommend to transferred the cake with the tiers already stacked or should I stacked the tiers after I transferred the cake to it’s destination? If you recommend to stack the cake on it’s destination how do I transferred the cake? Do I need to use cake boxes? Thanks for your help 🙂
Hi,
This depends on the cake. Sometimes Paul will stack at the destination for a really big cake but for a normal 3 tiered cake like the polka dot wedding cake it would be transported completely finished. We have course on transporting cakes with our pro membership: http://www.designer-cakes.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/pro-course-transporting-cakes
Hope that helps
Cheers
What type of cake board are you using between each stacked layer, please?
Hi,
You can get a better look here: http://www.designer-cakes.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/tools-overview/#tools-cake-drums-and-cake-cards
Cheers
No cake card, you can see the chocolate when the cake lifts up. Awesome video, thank you
Hi,
Yeah there is a cake board under the cakes. The ganache you can see is just the ganache used to stick the board to another board so Paul could ganache and ice it without it moving.
http://www.designer-cakes.com/using-ganache-prepearing-a-cake-to-be-transfered
Hope that helps
Cheers
I am making a two tier stacked Christening cake. The bottom will be a rich fruit cake and the top I intend doing your chocolate cake recipe. Do I still need to dowel the fruit cake or would it be strong enough to support the chocolate cake, or less dowels?
Thanks
Hi,
Yeah I think it would be safer to still dowel it.
Cheers
Hi Paul, I’ve seen that some people dowel through the entire cake to prevent the tiers sliding. I’m making my first 4 tier wedding cake and wondered if this is essential or do I just rely on my buttercream to hold each tier together?
Thanks,
Hi Ruth, You should be fine using the method shown on a 3 tier here or pop over to the Q&A to discuss this further with our members. x
Hi Paul, thanks for the tutorial. Can I use plastic cakepop sticks as dowel or are they too thin? Secondly, I once made a 2 tier cake 8″ and 6″. I put only 5 dowels in the 8″ cake and placed the 6″ cake on top. After few hours, I noticed that the fondant on the 8″ cake had cracks. I am not sure why this happened. Is it because I didn’t provide enough dowel support? Please help. Thanks!
Cake pop sticks might be a little to thin as dowels and as for the cracks it’s worth an ask on the Q&A here (it sounds like you may need a few more dowels in an 8″ cake)
Hi Paul and Staff,
Loving the free tutorials and comments…..will definitely be taking the annual membership out soon!
Thanks suemason62, get in touch on [email protected] if you need any help x
What kind of dowels does he use?
I believe they’re standard plastic cake dowels (12″) which are snipped down to size. If you need more advice pop a question on the Q&A here.
Does this apply if the cakes are all fruit?
Hi Glynismw, it generally does – you can read a bit more about this on the Q&A here – http://www.designer-cakes.com/questions/stacking-fruit-wedding-cak
Very useful so far. I hope I can put all this into practice with excellent results!
Good luck Gillymarsh, we’re sure you’ll do fine! x
Paul, every cake does not have any kind of base? is on the fondant cake?
Hi,
Not every cake has this kind of base however it is a popular style of base.
Many thanks D x
You are amazing! I so wish I’d seen this video before my 3 tier cake collapsed on a baby shower customer:( Not cool. Won’t happen again after this amazing vid:) Tks!
Thank you very much for this tutorials.
Awesome!
Hi, The courses are super. i went to Collage for Bakery and Confectionery about 35years ago. So know i have forgot a lot of thinks. with your courses i can learn new ways from my time at Collage.
Thank you.
I’m currently a monthly paid member but I’d like to upgrade to pro but continue to pay on a monthly basis. Is this possible?
I just love this free course,learn a lot about cake decorating hope to learn more.
Thank you
Hi Tracey,
We are so glad you are enjoying the free course! If you would like advice about any cake decorating, head over to our Q&A section where you can get advise from lots of cake decorating superheroes!
If you need any other help, please drop me a message at [email protected] 🙂
Thanks D x
Thank you for the tutorial. I am a beginner with fondant cake. I made a cake with 2 tiers for a birthday party but the top cake fell off a little when I was driving. How can I make sure it will not fell or move (the top cake 2nd tier)?
I made your polka dot handbag cake and all I can say is wow you are an amazing tutor
Thank you for the feedback! We are so glad that you managed to make the polka dot handbag cake! Send us a picture via our facebook if you get a chance 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/PaulBradfordSugarcraftSchool
Best wishes! D x
Hi Paui, I have only recently joined but I am really excited as I am self taught and hsve done msny cakes 3& 4 tiered with separatlely made iced collars plus L have
drawn pictures straight onto the cakes loads of different things but there are so many things I wouid love to learn and this has certainly got me motivated as I have got a
3 or 4 tiered wedding cske to do for next May so after xmas I will be joining your monthly scheme & I know it is going to be worthwhile,
Hi ! We are so glad to hear that you have a booking for May! Fantastic news – We look forward to you joining after Christmas and hopefully our tutorials will help you with to get your cake ready for May! D xx
hello do you use a foam cake board under the cake or a thin thin board under it. Also do you ever place a dowel thru all the cakes in the center to keep it straight.. I have seen some cake designers, pushing a dowel thru all the cakes from the top down. Thanks MJ
Hi Marg,
Thank you for getting in touch. Yes we do use dowels, for cakes that are needing support. In particular we used a dowel for the Santa Clause Cake – you can check this out here! http://www.designer-cakes.com/how-to-make-a-santa-cake
I hope this helps!:) x
this was really helpful, just did my first tiered cake using wooden dowls but have bought the straws for future cakes as they are easy to cut. Don’t feel so nervous now to try them out…..cheers
Fantastic news Jackie! I am glad that this tutorial has been able to help you! Enjoy the other tutorials:) D xxx
Love the tutorial
Thank you for the feedback, I am glad you are enjoying the tutorials!! x
Do you ever put icing under the cake boards/ cards to keep it in place or is that not necessary, I ask because I know it used to be done (long long ago) Also I am ready to stack and took your advice about the dowelling of cakes now I’m 50/50 about icing under the cards!
Show a video cutting the cake with all those dowels in it!
Hi Sugarkiss1999,
Thanks for the feedback, I will pass this onto the team to see if this is something we can do:)
Many thanks – enjoy the tutorials! D xx
Lol! Thanks for the tip on telling the customer about the dowels! I actually am amazed by some of the questions I do get…thanks for the warning…Enjoy the class layout too, thanks! JTRESOR Richmond Va
Hi Jtresor,
Thank you for the feedback Jtresor, I am glad you found this tip useful! 🙂 x
Paul, thanks for all the information you provide.
I think, if traveling with a tiered cake, a long dowel through the center of all tiers top to bottom is a very smart thing. If using this, you wouldn’t put the center dowel in each tier but use the one, long one to go from the center of the top tier, through each lower tier, into the base cake drum, then you cut the excess dowel at the top—this keeps them from sliding. If you are not traveling with the cake, there may not be a need for this tall, center dowel.
Thank you for your feedback Catahoula 🙂 I am glad you have found dowelling helpeful! x
Awesome vid… Please I wanna ask. Did the second tier dowel get to the bottom of the first tier? And also, why didn’t you use the type of first tier dowel on the second tier cake, why use the plastic straws and not hard dowels on the second tier….?
Hi Bammy, thank you for the feedback. Glad you enjoyed it.
You can find out more information about dowelling here on our Q&A section of our website.
http://www.designer-cakes.com/questions/dowelling-methods/
http://www.designer-cakes.com/questions/number-of-dowels/
http://www.designer-cakes.com/questions/question-about-cake-boards-and-drums/
I hope these answers on our Q&A shed some light on dowelling. Cheers! Danielle x
Hello !
I have a query. On the bottom of each of the individual cake tiers that you are layering on top, do you have a cake card underneath ? Is that what touches the royal icing or its just cake alone ?
Regards,
Mariam
Hi Mariam,
Yes Paul is using cake cards in between each tier. 8” (20.3cm), 6” (15.2cm) Round and Square cake cards x