Do you need to use a cake board between tiers on a stacked cake?
Why Use Cake Boards (also sometimes referred to as cake cards)?
Preventing Sinking, Sagging and Tilting If you plan to stack any heavy cake or a cake larger than 5 - 6 inches in diameter, cake boards are crucial. Even for smaller cakes, using cake boards is highly recommended. Without them, you risk your cake sinking or becoming wonky, which can ruin the overall presentation. In some cases not using correct cake boards and dowels will result in complete collapse of your tiered cake.
Supporting the Structure Cake boards / cards provide the necessary support to hold each tier securely. While a thick cake drum offers solid support, lighter and thinner cake cards are also effective. They are strong enough to hold the weight of the cake without bending and are less bulky than traditional cake drums. Although sometimes using a cake drum can sometimes be useful as it can increase the visual height of each tier of your cake.
How to Use Cake Boards for Stacking Cakes
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Level Each Tier Ensure all tiers are perfectly level before stacking. Using a spirit level can help achieve the best results.
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Size the Cake Cards Each tier should sit on a cake card that is the same size as that tier. This helps distribute the weight evenly. It also means the cake card cannot be seen when the cake is stacked ensuring a seamless professional look.
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Secure the Tiers Attach each tiers to the cake cards and the next tier with buttercream or royal icing. This ensures the tiers stay in place.
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Mark the Placement Use a knife to gently draw around the cake card where the next tier will sit. This ensures accurate placement.
Using Dowels in a Tiered Cake
Clean and Measure Dowels Always clean and dry your dowels before use. Insert one dowel into the cake and mark where the top of the cake is, then cut the remaining dowels to the same size. Score and snap dowels are useful in this instance as these will snap at the point at which they have been scored with a blade.
Chilled Cakes are Easier Doweling a chilled cake is easier as it is firmer, making the dowels easier to insert.
Proper Placement of Dowels Place dowels in a circle slightly smaller (around 1-2 inches depending on the size of the cake) than the outline of the next tier. This provides stability and prevents the cake from collapsing. For extra security a central dowel may also be used.
Number of Dowels Use one dowel for every 2 inches of cake diameter. For example, a 12-inch cake should have around 6 dowels.
More Tips for Creating a Tiered Cake
- Seamless Finish Use buttercream, ganache, piping, icing, ribbons, or decorations to cover the seams of each tier for a polished look.
- Decorate After Stacking Stack the cake when it has buttercream or sugarpaste covering only to avoid disturbing the decorations.
- Central Dowelling for Extra Stability For cakes with three or more tiers, consider using a central dowel. Drill a hole through the center of each cake card and insert one long dowel through the entire cake. This provides extra stability and prevents toppling.
- Consider Transporting Tiers Separately Depending on the height and number of your tiers, along with the distance the cake has to travel consider preparing your cakes with dowels and boards and transporting each tier separately, then stacking at the final location.
- TIP If you are transporting individual tiers consider mounting each tier on a transport board. For example place a 6 inch cake on an extra larger cake board for transport with a matching cake box. This will ensure the edges of the cake are not damaged by the box. This extra board can then be removed before stacking the cake.
By following these tips and using cake boards and dowels, you can create beautiful, stable tiered cakes that impress both in taste and presentation.