Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi all, I have to make a wedding cake in a few weeks, it will be decorated with fresh roses between the layers. What is best to separate the tiers? I am making a 12″ 10″ and 8″ cakes. Would it be best to go 2″ smaller? So 8″ round for the 10″ cake? I was thinking polystyrene dummies but are these too tall? Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks Ryan

Hi,
If polystyrene dummies are too tall, you can buy seperators made of polystyrene and are available in different heights, or you could stick cake boards together to get the corrent height and then cover with ribbon.
Hope this helps.
jackie

Hi ryan

Polystyrene dummy separators are usually 2″ deep, your local cake decorating store should have them, if not you can buy them online. I’ve checked on this site’s shop and can’t see any. I should think you’d need about 3″ gap so 9″ 7″ and 5″ and each tier will have to be dowelled. I’m not sure whether you’ll be attaching the roses to the dummies or just butting them in. Fresh flowers have to be completely dry before coming into contact with icing or placed on the cake as late as possible to prevent the icing becoming sticky and flowers wilting. You can also use stacked cake boards as suggested by jackieharris. Might be an idea to ask a local florist how they insert fresh flowers into polystyrene.