Stacking Tiered Wedding Cakes Questions

by Lyleeya
(Malaysia)

Greetings Lorelie, I love your website, the site has helped me a lot and I've learned so much. good job!

My question is on stacking tiered wedding cakes. It's my first time making a wedding for a friend. I've done a dummy wedding cake before so I know a few things about cake decorating and fondant, but now I have to make a real wedding cake and I'm nervous!

It's a two tier 14" and 12" cake. I have so much to ask. I have a month to prepare everything and I really hope you can help me!

1. My friend wants a chocolate cake, so I was wondering if there's a certain recipe to use so the cake could support the fondant? or does it matter? And must the cake be two layers for a tier? or does it depend on how high do you want a tier to be?

2. I've been reading everyone talking about fillings and I'm not quite sure what everyone is talking about. Is it the fillings in between the layer of a tier?

3. I've also read about the crumb coating, but I'm still confused. This is how I am thinking in my mind; bake, cool, crumb coat, refrigerate, final coat, refrigerate. Have the cake at room temperature before applying the fondant. Is this correct??

4. Stacking! I have no idea how to stack a tiered wedding cake. Do I just place the second tier on a cake board and place it on the top of the bottom cake? Or place it on the bottom cake without the cake board?

That is all I need to know right now. I hope you can help me and give me some tips! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

ANSWER: Hi Lyleeya,

Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad you found the site helpful, and congratulations on making your first real wedding cake.

The best chocolate cake recipe that I use and love is
this chocolate buttermilk recipe. It is very moist and delicious. The weight of the cake should not be an issue as you will be doweling your cake tiers so

as not to "squish" the one below.

Generally most wedding cakes have two layers per tier with a filling in between. So yes to your question about the filling being between two layers of cake. But you don't have to. I would recommend it though because it is so much more interesting with a nice tasty filling, and it will give it the height that you asked about.

You have the order of the construction almost perfect. You will Bake, cool, fill, crumb coat, wrap and freeze,( I prefer to freeze, you could refrigerate if you prefer.)freezing will make your cakes easier to manage and work with as the layers will be firmly in place as you finish your cake. Cover your wedding cake with fondant right before the event if possible as you should not refrigerate a fondant cake. The fondant will absorb any moisture and start to break down.

To stack your cakes: Your top tier should be on a piece of cardboard cut to fit the bottom of the cake. Use dowels or straws cut to the height of the bottom tier and push them into you cake. They should be placed in a circle the diameter of the 12 inch top cake. Now place a small amount of coconut or graham cracker crumbs onto the bottom cake. Take your 12 inch top tier and place that directly onto the bottom one.
Here are a few links to other similar questions with suggestions that may also be helpful to you.

Lots of helpful commentary on the process of crumb coating and freezing cakes and a little on fondant

Detailed step by step on stacking tiered wedding cakes

Layers and filling

For filling a fondant cake use a buttercream frosting. You can flavor it many ways , put fresh fruit in with it etc, and it is safe to not refrigerate for a couple of days.

Good luck and please feel free to ask more questions if you need more help.
Please let us know how your cake turns out and send a photo. Thanks again for visiting and asking great questions on stacking tiered wedding cakes.