Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A
Question about cake boards and drums
Might seem a silly question and I hope it makes sense. When stacking a wedding cake, I am not entirely happy to put the cake straight down onto the board or drum, I always make sure I clean it over first and stick a circle of greaseproof paper over it. Also, when doing a stacked cake, after dowelling the cake you then need to stick the next tiers on top with royal icing, I worry that the icing on the cake on the lower tier will become damaged and look a mess when the tiers are taken apart for cutting. Does anyone have any advice to offer, I would be interested to hear what other cake makers do. Thank you
Might seem a silly question and I hope it makes sense. When stacking a wedding cake, I am not entirely happy to put the cake straight down onto the board or drum, I always make sure I clean it over first and stick a circle of greaseproof paper over it. Also, when doing a stacked cake, after dowelling the cake you then need to stick the next tiers on top with royal icing, I worry that the icing on the cake on the lower tier will become damaged and look a mess when the tiers are taken apart for cutting. Does anyone have any advice to offer, I would be interested to hear what other cake makers do. Thank you
I mostly cover my boards first with sugar paste and leave them to dry overnight. This ensure the paste doesn’t get damaged when putting the cake on. Cake drums are foodsafe tho so there isn’t an issue with direct contact. For me I just prefer the look overall of a finished board. As for tiers I also leave them to firm up a bit. The icing shouldn’t get damaged if you dowel properly as the cake board rests on the dowels. Royal icing ensure they are secure and won’t slide especially during transport. As for cutting they may possibly get damaged depending on how they are cut and taken apart but they are going to be eaten.
Many thanks for your answer Jmilne, it was interesting. I am not terribly experienced yet with doing a tiered cake, but will make sure I dowel so that the cake board will rest on the dowels, obviously as flush with the cake as I can get. It’s all a learning curve and the books make it all look very easy, so it’s good to swap advice with others in the know. Thanks again Annie
Hi anniep53, you may or may not know but when putting dowels in cake make sure they are all exactly the same length or your cake will be wonky. Place dowels in cake, mark where they need to be cut, remove them all and see which (if any) is the longest and make them all this length. Apologies if you already know this.
Jx
ps I stick my cakes staright onto drums with either royal icing or some fondant mashed with boiled water or clear alcohol to a paste
