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Hi I will be making a 4 tier wedding cake 12,10,8,6” round. The bottom is a dummy. Do I need to dowel it with 4 -6 dowels? The 3rd is a heavy Choc biscuit cake , 3rd a fruit & the top lemon drizzel.
My next question is it okay to glue the dummy to the board with double sided tape? Do I need to insert nails from the bottom? This cake will be transported 100K fully stacked as the client is taking it. I will be using a central dowel too for the cake tiers and a little bit also into the dummy & not all the way to the board as I don’t have a plastic dowel that long in one piece. I have a lot to think about in terms of stability ! All suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much xx

Hi there!

I will try and answer each point of your question in order:

a) Personally I would dowel the dummy as not all dummies are equal in strength to carry weight.

b) Double sided tape won’t be suffciently strong enough to cope with any sifts during the journey. Inserting nails in the board and also a good strong royal icing as glue would be a good idea.

c) Using a cental dowel will keep the tiers stable or you could use a stacking system as seen here:
http://www.sturdycakestackers.com/
Customer service at Sturdy Cake Stackers is very helpful and will answer any questions you may have about their product. It might be worth inquiring if it can be used with dummies. They can be contacted either by phone or by email.

If the client is taking the cake will you be placing it in a heavy duty stacked cake box? For stacked cake boxes
peek here for a choice of suppliers: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=heavy+duty+stacked+cake+boxes&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b&gfe_rd=cr&dcr=0&ei=XR24Wd37GY7W8Ae-0I6gCA

Hope this helps, please post again if you need more information.

Hi madeitwithlove,
Thank you so much for the detailed answer. Very helpful indeed.
This is my very first wedding cake, not a simple one mainly because of the length of the journey!! I have to make sure everything is done perfectly as I am not able to get to the location for an emergency.
My next question is I will be making my own central dowel system (well my hubby does). Does the dowel needs to reach the very top of the top tier (6” round 6” tall) or is it okay to have it only half way up? the top tier is a lemon drizzel with 4 cake layers.
Second question is, that On top of the top tier I will be placing a sugar flower arrangement which is set on a cake card. Is it good to insert thin wooden dowels about 4 as a support for that?
Third question is, I plan to make 4 separate layers for the top tier & sandwich with swiss meringue BC & white chocolate ganache on the outside. Is SMBC more stable than normal butter icing? is it good to do a thin layer of ganache as well inside to give a more stability? Or not?
Fourth Question is is it okay to mazipan a fruit cake 3-4 weeks in advance & cover with sugar paste .
I am so so grateful for taking your time to answer above!
lots of love xx

Hi again!

a) dowell all the cakes as normal as seen in Paul’s tutorial on how to stack cakes.

b) Centeral dowel must go all the way through from top to bottom of the tiers for total stability. Some wooden dowels are not food grade and will need to be inserted into a food grade sheath such plumbers pipe for domestic water….. or google for foodgrade wooden centre dowels.

c) Dowel the top tier to receive the flower topper. It’s better to be safe than sorry, I’ve learned from bitter experience!

d) Personally I wouldn’t use Swiss meringue buttercream for the filling if you are working on the cake for sevral days. Italian meringue bc is much more shelf stable because the egg whites are thoroughly cooked by the boiled sugar. Lots of great recipes online to choose from. Alternatively use white chocolate buttercream which is very shelf stable and crumb coat with white ganache. I have a small recipe which can be scaled up as required.
Scroll down the page to see it here: https://www.cakeflix.com/making-an-egg-free-cake

e) It’s fine to marzipan and ice a fruit cake in your timeline. Leave the marzipanned cake to dry for three days to seal in the oils before icing. It will prevent any discolouration of the icing while stored. Keep the decorated cake in a cardboard box in a cool environment away from any direct heat source and sunlight.

Where in the vehicle is the cake going to sit whilst in transit? Best place is in the boot so the box is stood upright and not tilting. Use no slip mats on which to place the cake box. Eg: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roll-of-Anti-Slip-matting-1-5m/dp/B004AXTIYM

Good luck with the assembly and delivery.

Hi madeitwithlove,

Thanks for answering all my concerns.

With regards to Swiss meringue BC, I use pasteurized eggs . Do you think it’s still not shelf stable?
I need a good filling for the lemon drizzel to last at least 1 week at room temperature.
Never made Italian mbc. I like to try your white chocolate butter cream.
The cake will be transported in the boot of a van.

I am full of questions!!
Thanks a mil xx

I wouldn’t recommend either Italian or Swiss meringue buttercream to be shelf stable for a week, not even with pasteurized egg whites. Unfortunately environmental conditions can change very quickly which can compromise safety and integrity of the buttercream. I’ve not heard of anyone keeping meringue based fillings at room temp for more than a few days.
I think the safest bet is on with a white chocolate buttercream flavoured with real vanilla beans scraped in. It tastes just like icecream! Lemon and vanilla taste really good together. The flavour can be intensified by adding a few drops of good oil based lemon extract.
If you want to try it, highlight and open the link I’ve set in my previous answer. Don’t worry about asking too many questions, I can understand all your concerns, we all experience the same. Your concerns are greater because of the distance the cakes have to travel. Don’t forget to take pictures of your cake to show that you are handing it over in perfect condition. After it leaves you, the onus of keeping the cargo safe is up to the client and this should be made clear in writing before you hand it over. It’s precautionary to do so in case there are any problems later.

Thank you so much & I will definitely do the white chocolate butter cream as a filling.

I have a dummy to cover with burgundy sugarpaste which I have got from UK. Do you use edible glue or sugar water as a glue? I want the edges to stay sharp. I don’t have a whole lot of sugarpaste for this 12” dummy to cover with a very thick layer. My question is if it needs to look super smooth would you cover it with white sugar paste first let it dry & then with burgundy?. I read somewhere that some do it that way!
Any helpful hints greatly appreciated xx

My apologies for the above query!!

I just buffed the dummy & applied edible glue & worked a treat!
Thanks

Shortening is another great medium to use for sticking paste down to dummies. All you do is smear the shortening on the dummy and decorate as normal. It’s a great, cleaner way of covering. No more getting the fondant wet from water or glue!

I am here again !!
What’s the best time to apply luster on sugarpaste? Leave to dry a bit or soon after applying on the cake?
I feel that the moisture of the sugarpaste may leave patches !!

Regarding the answer above I am not able to get shortening over here in Ireland.. It sounds a great medium to use.
Many Thanks xx

You have it correct. Leave the paste to dry off a little before applying the lustre to prevent patches. Even a few hours should be suffcient depending on your climate in beautiful Ireland. If the weather is wet or humid you may have to wait a little longer as the sugar will attract the moisture from the air.
I’m surprised you can’t get vegetable fat like Trex but I think it is sold under the name Cookeen in your land and is available in most supermarkets.

🙂 xx

Hugh Thanks again,

I want to add a cake drum to add height to one tier, have seen Paul doing it. My cake would have a central pole all the way up so I have to make a hole at the centre of the board which is 1/2” thick. How do I make the exposed part of hole food safe ? Is it something to be concerned about? I will be using ganache to secure the cake to the board . Would that act as a barrier?
Thanks a mil xx

The exposed drilled part can certainly be covered with ganache. Give the inside of the aperture a good coating so every little fibre is encapsulated. This could make inserting the pole a little tighter but that would make it stable. Put more ganache around the base just to make sure everything is trapped.

Thanks a mil will let you know how it goes xx

Hi madeitwithlove,
I owe you a great big thank you for supporting me all the way from major to my tiniest query I had posted on here when I did my first ever wedding cake. It was a success. I took all your advise with gratitude and they helped me immensely . The only thing I had to do differently was using smbc which was made 5 days in advance and it was perfect. The client didn’t like anything else.
Thanks a mil xx

I’m so pleased everything worked out well and very happy to have been of some help. Thank you for taking the time to give me this excellent feed back. xx 🙂