Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A
My first stacked cake
Hi, I will be attempting my first stacked cake, just two tiers and could do with a litrle advice. i have read that you can use straws instead of dowels to stack, has anyone done this? Also, i’m torn between putting the top tier on a thin or thick cake board. What would people recommend? Scary doing my first stacked cake, but exciting too. its going to be an exploding parcel type cake. Advice would be greatly received! Thanks
Don’t think I would risk straws at all – too much of a risk of the cake toppling over. Plastic dowels are fairly cheap anyway, and as you cut them down to size, you will be able to get a few cakes out of each one, so the cost per cake becomes less. I buy mine from www.cakecraftworld.co.uk, but I think The Range sell them now too – www.therange.co.uk if you only need one pack, then the range would be cheaper as you can buy from the shop (if there is one near you) and not pay the delivery charges! You can also use wooden ones, if you prefer, and bamboo skewers are available in most supermarkets – these would be better than straws, but use more of them than dowels as they are not so thick!. Hope this helps. Good luck, and post some pick on Paul’s facebook page so we can see how you got on!
Hi katie
i have never used straws to stack, think i would be to scared- others may have used them and have some good advice, i should imagine for a lightweight top they might be ok. Don’t worry its easy honest you’ll be making them all the time soon. Use plastic dowels as shown in Paul’s tutorials and a thin board to match the size of the top cake. A tip for cutting the plastic dowels- i use dog nail cutters with the rounded scoop ( never been used on the dog LOL), they make cutting them really easy x good luck
Sharon x
Hi Katie
As it’s your first stacked cake I would agree with Sharon and use the plastic dowels. Straws can be very strong, they have to be the rigid type, not the ones with the bendy bit at the top. If you type in the search box ‘stacking with straws’ there is some information there which might be useful to you. In Paul’s tutorials he stands the bottom tier on a cake drum and the others on a cake card. These are then secured to the dowels with either some ganache or royal icing. Just follow Paul’s tutorials and you won’t go wrong. Good luck. x
Hi Katie
There is also a video tutorial in youtube by Laura poopie, just google how to stack a tiered cake with straws. The video should come up for you. Laura poopie is Mayen’s friend who’s sugar craft moulds featured in this blog http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/way-beyond-cakes-lace-mold-review. Hope it helps you.
Thank you so much for all your advice, thats great! thats why i love the cake community, always happy to help 🙂 I will try to remember to post a photo when finished. I have bought the plastic doweling rods as I agree, best not to risk it. Thanks! 😀
