A bee-themed baby shower cake. The baby’s name is Beatrice!
Monthly Archives: July 2012
Tutorial: How to Stack a Cake
Ok, so stacking cakes is actually pretty easy – I’ve found a few tricks that help me along the way. Firstly, I usually don’t stack anything until it’s more than four cakes stacked. So a two tier cake (which is four individual cakes high) will usually not require support, unless it’s a larger cake (say, anything over 10 inches for the bottom layer). I use bubble straws or wooden dowel rods. Usually I use the dowel rods for heavier cakes and bubble straws for lighter ones.
When decorating your cakes, you’ll want to put each cake on some sort of separator. I use sheets of plastic separators that you can purchase from a craft store. They can’t be any wider than the perimeter of the cake, or they’ll stick out. Every one of the cakes I have in this post is on a separator and is hidden under either buttercream or fondant. Since I use the upside-down frosting technique (http://jessicakesblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/video-tutorial-upside-down-frosting.html), I just keep the separator with the cake throughout the process!
Step 1: Measure the height of the support by poking one into the cake and marking it with a pencil. Make sure to insert the rod in an area that will not be visible when the next cake is stacked (i.e. I’m putting a 6 inch cake on an 8 inch cake, so I’ll need to have the rod at least one inch from the perimeter of the cake in order to have it under the next layer).
I inserted a wooden dowel rod at least 2 inches from the perimeter of the cake to measure where I would need to cut the rod.]
Step 2: Gather the supports together that you’ll need and cut them all at the same height. In general, you’ll want around the same number of supports as the size of the cake. For instance, I’m putting a 6 inch cake on top of this 8 inch cake. I’ll want around 6 supports.
One marked dowel is lined with several others in order to cut them at the same height. We used a miter saw.
Step 3: Insert all of the dowels into the cake. It’s best to use all of the supports except one in a circular pattern and then put the last support in the middle. I forgot to take a picture of this step – sorry!
Step 4: Start stacking! Here’s the tricky part – and a tip I found that helps IMMENSELY. Freeze your cakes. I froze my cake for at least an hour in order to have it completely solid. This allows for you to handle the cake without having to be so careful. Be aware that as it thaws, the fondant will act a little funny – there may be a condensation issue, but as long as you thaw it slowly, you shouldn’t have too much of a problem. If you’re using buttercream as your only medium, then when you freeze it, just use a metal spatula to carry it from underneath. You still will be able to reposition it several times if need be when stacking. If it’s not frozen, you only get one chance!!!
Since the cake is frozen, you can make sure it’s stacked perfectly without fear of squishing the fondant or messing up the cake underneath! I only used separators and dowel rods for the bottom cakes.
Voila! Your cake is now stacked and supported. I always take some sort of knife or flat metal edge and tap around the bottom of each cake to get that smooth bottom edge. If you have any questions, you can email me or leave it in the comments section. Tutorials are a bit difficult, as I might have missed some steps, so feel free to ask anything!
Orange Creamsicle Cake
This is a preview of the orange creamsicle cake I made for lunch this past Sunday! Throughout the week (or when I find time), I’ll be posting tutorials on how to properly stack a cake and how to easily take a fondant design and put it on the cake accurately!
Rustic Wedding Cake
This was my first try at a wedding – the cake turned out to be wayyyy too big for the 40 person reception, as there was over 7 pounds of butter just in the frosting alone! The bride and groom were absolutely in love with their cake – the wedding was unique and rustic, and matched the style and taste of the couple perfectly. The cake itself was white with raspberry filling!
living/skillfully 