Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

How do you prevent the fondant from the top of the lower cake from being removed when separating the upper tier for serving? Dowels are used to prevent smashing the lower tier, but the cakeboard from the upper tier sticks to the lower tier and removes the fondant.

I use either melted white chocolate or ganache as glue. It’s easier than royal icing to unstick with a hot palette knife. Take off all decorations. Slide the knife between the board and cake, gently ease the board bit by bit all the way round until it detaches. Prop the cake up with the palette knife just enough to place fingers under the board, once stable lift the tier off. I always end up with some damage but not enough to make a hole in the cake. If it’s a wedding cake it will normally be done by the staff at the venue who are experienced at minimizing any damage. Once the cake is sliced up nothing is visible anyway.
Other members may do things differently and will hopefully share their method.