It was an absolute pleasure and delight creating this challenging eight-tier wedding cake. For this cake, the tiers were made of red velvet with a cream cheese filling. They were covered in buttercream before placing a thin layer of fondant on top to achieve the desired look. With five-inch pillars in between each cake tier, the total cake height was seven feet. And when placed on the designated cake table, the cake display was ten feet tall. When assembling a cake like this, the most important part is the stacking support system. Here’s how to stack a tall wedding cake safely.
1. Have evenly cut dowels.
Once your cakes are baked, crumb-coated, covered, and decorated, the most important step to ensure that your cake masterpiece will withstand an evening of guests, dancing, and movement is to make sure that every individual dowel is cut to the exact same length, with no slant in the cuts. When stacking this many cake tiers, a fraction of an inch difference in some dowel lengths can add up to quite a tilt by the time you get to the top tier of cake. If there is any slant or tilt, gravity will eventually make it topple over.
2. Insert dowels carefully.
When inserting your dowels, ensure that you add the preferred extra height space for flower placement on site. Additionally, ensure that the dowels are spaced evenly in a clock-like setting, and each dowel is pushed down to the correct height. This will allow you to double-check the heights of the dowels and confirm that they are all accurate.
3. Box your cakes separately.
When transporting a cake of this nature, it is best to have each tier boxed individually and none of them stacked prior to setup. This is to protect against any possible shifting that may occur from hitting the brakes while driving.
4. Double-check your cake table.
Once at the venue, go in to make sure that your cake table is ready and level. You will also need to make sure you have a tall step stool or a small ladder to complete the construction on this type of cake. Make sure you have all your cake tiers, supplies, and materials ready to go before stacking.
5. Stack the layers carefully.
Make sure that you stack each cake tier right in the center of the cake tier below. Just like slightly uneven dowels, if any of your tiers are slightly off, it is a huge fall risk factor. Your cake will not be centered and unable to self-support itself, as well with your dowel stacking system.
Once you have all of your tiers stacked and assembled, enjoy finishing the cake with whatever florals are being used for this particular event. For this wedding, we used 380 stems of fresh white hydrangeas to bring the cake together and complete the total presentation. The best part is when you get to step back, look, and feel a sense of accomplishment at knowing you created the dream cake the couple was looking for!
This article was originally published in the September/October 2025 issue of American Cake Decorating.
