In this tutorial, I will show you how to easily stack frosted cake tiers.
This popular, simple stacked construction is perfect for everything from birthday parties to weddings.
Whether you are going to adorn your cake with sweet accents for a child’s party or add elegant sugar flowers for a wedding, you need to start with a foundation that is secure.
Stacking cake tiers can be a little intimidating at first…but it is not as difficult as you think! In this tutorial, I am going to demonstrate stacking two tiers (8 and 6 inch), and how to stabilize the structure with dowels/supports and cardboard cake circles.
Enjoy the tutorial, and make sure to check beneath the video for additional notes and materials!
Materials
I’m using a three layer 8 inch tier and a 3 layer 6″ tier. (The layers of the 6″ tier are thicker and therefore this is a taller tier.) These layers happen to be White Almond Sour Cream (doctored mix from our Recipes section)
Buttercream Frosting- I’m using our High Ratio recipe
2 Cardboard Cake Circles (or foam core cake circles) for support
4 bubble tea straws (or your supports of choice)
Spatula(s) of choice.
Sharp knife (used to run beneath the cake and the turntable)
Turntable (Not essential for stacking tiers but very helpful for frosting and decorating)
Long (thin) wooden skewer or lollipop stick, etc.- Used to measure the height of our bottom tier
Food coloring Pen- (Mine was americolor) to mark the height of our tier onto the wooden skewer and also onto our straws
Wilton Tip 3 or other small round tip of choice for filling in and correcting any imperfections in the icing
Viva paper towel (for smoothing over any rough spots–optional) –Hot knife method works well for this also.
Cake base or pedestal–Final resting place for your cake ;0)
Notes
The 8 inch tier used in this video is the same tier that you can watch me trim, fill, and crumb coat in our Crumb Coating video tutorial.
It is also the cake from our Viva Paper Towel Method of Smoothing video, if you’d like to see how we frosted it & smoothed with nice, sharp corners.
*Make sure to chill your buttercream-frosted tiers before stacking. I tend to pop mine in the freezer for about 15 minutes (or until frosting is just firm). Just don’t forget to remove from the freezer or your cake will develop condensation.
Chilling the tiers before stacking will allow you to more easily move the top tier onto the bottom, and to reposition if necessary.
*As I mentioned in the tutorial, the bubble tea straws are great for stacking 2 tiered cakes. I’ve only used bubble tea straws with 3 tiered cakes a few times, as I prefer to use something more substantial for heavy cakes.
Decorating Stacked Tiered Cakes
We’ve decorated many tiered cakes over the years in our free cake videos. Here are just a few examples!
Buttercream Palette Knife Cake Decorating Video
Buttercream Trellis Basketweave Cake-Free Video
Elegant Piping and Bow- Free Video
Elegant White Buttercream Flower Cake- Free Video
Tier Separations and Fresh Flowers -Free Video
This is a great video Melissa. For someone like me who is new at stacking cakes, your presentation of basics is very understandable. I know that I, and others, asked the same questions about stacking…I was never sure if I was to leave my cake on the cakeboard and usually had to pry it off the turntable..:-/. It was also very helpful to see and hear you explain the bubble tea straws, their placement on the lower tier, and the whys. I am not afraid to stack a cake now!! OK, here is a question..when the lower cake is sliced, how/who takes the straw out? Thanks Melissa..your site and you are brilliant!
Hi Paula, thanks–I’m glad that you liked it! That is a really good question and one that we should have included. Maybe once we’re finished with this cake (I think we’re going to decorate it for another video today), we can add a tutorial on disassembling.
Whoever is in charge of cutting the cake or disassembling the tiers can pull out the straws. I usually remove the tiers and then just pull the straws straight out. You could do this by hand or even a little set of tweezers (reserved for cake use) to grab onto the edge of the straw and pull straight out. This is how I usually do it but you could also just slice the cake and remove the straws as you get close enough to them. You can easily see them and so there are no worries of accidentally cutting into one.
Hi, Melissa, thanks for another great video. I do have a question, would the bubble tea straws in the bottom tier provide enough support or will I have to drive a wooden dowel through the whole cake? Will the top tier stay in place? I really like the way you have left the top tier. On previous cakes I put a wooden dowel in and I really don’t like how I have to touch up the top tier or put a decoration on top to cover where the wooden dowel was inserted. Thank you again, Melissa.
Hi Latrell– I only drive a wooden dowel through the center and into the cake base when I either need to transport the cake or when it is a carved/3-D or topsy turvy construction that may be a little less stable for one reason or another (top heavy, etc.). In my tutorial, you see that I placed the 4 straws into the cake but left the center “empty”. If it would give you more peace of mind, you could also include a straw (or support) in the center–but there’s no need to drive the sharpened dowel all the way through everything unless you are traveling with it or have concerns about the stability of an unusually shaped cake. Hope this helps!
Great video Melissa and Bebe!
It’s funny how the simple things can elude us. It just never occurred to me to use the cake pan as a marker!! Wonderful tip!!
Chilling is an incredibly helpful tip as well…makes tons of difference when it comes to the icing not getting messed up from placement of the top layer. Before your videos, I made lots of mistakes. I can’t believe how much faster my cake decorating is becoming thanks to your invaluable instructions!
So glad I found you :o)
Thanks so much, Holly!! I’m so happy that you found the tips to be helpful! I am a big fan of chilling cakes ;0)
Where do u purchase the bubble tea straws I had ordered some.initially but got the wrong ones IDK if I searched it wrong.
Hi Janet–We bought ours years ago (we ordered in bulk!) from bobateadirect.com. They are 1/2 inch wide and approximately 8 1/4 inches long. They were cheap, but because there were so many, the shipping was expensive. You can find them in smaller quantites on ebay–just search bubble tea straws (or boba tea straws) and look for the ones that are 1/2 inches wide.
I so love this site. I actually found my bubble tea straws at my local Asian food and produce market.
Yes! Great advice, Kimberly–and thank you!! xo
Bed bath and beyond carries bubble tea straws, (the package says milkshake straws), there are 50 in a package for 1.99.
Hi Dina, that’s great to know. Thanks for posting.
how do make dora the explorer cake animated?
Sorry is my first visit
I am sorry but I don’t understand how the straws support the top tier?? Or are they only to give the bottom more strength? I feel like the top tier could move and I always used a dowel through all tiers… am I foolish? I always thought I needed something to go through all the tiers together…. to keep everything in place. I rather do it your way!!! Less fuss!
Please help me to understand, thank you and love your site!!
Jeanne Davidson
Hi Jeanne– The purpose of the bubble tea straws or dowels, etc. is to support the weight of the tier on top of it. If there were no dowels beneath the top tier, it would gradually sink down into the lower tier, and also cause the sides of the bottom tier to bulge (or worse) as it buckles under the weight.
If you are assembling a stacked cake at the site of an event, there is really no need to hammer a long sharpened center dowel through all of your tiers and into the cake base, assuming that your tiers are level and your dowels/supports in each tier are all cut to the same size, etc. However, if this gives you peace of mind, there is nothing wrong with doing this. I actually prefer to use an internal support system (I use SPS) for my stacked cakes that are 3 tiers or more anyway.
If you are traveling with a stacked cake, then it is common to hammer the long sharpened center dowel through the tiers and into the cake base. (If it isn’t hammered into the base, it’s not going to help).
I have traveled without the long central dowel many times with a *chilled, stacked cake–but only for two tiers. Anything more, I recommend assembling on site or using the SPS system.
Finally, sculpted or 3-D cakes, or cakes with an unusual design that may be top heavy or tapered at the bottom, or cakes that are taller than they are wide, etc. do often call for the extra support of a central dowel hammered or secured into the cake base.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions!
I too love the tip of using your pan to mark where your straws need to go.Would you sugguest traveling with your layer put together /
Hi Anita–This is a judgement call—some travel with fully assembled cakes while others do not want to take any risks and would rather assemble on site. I personally am okay with traveling with two stacked tiers…but 3 would be a little scary for me. When I do travel with assembled tiers, I chill them first so that the icing can firm up. You also always want to make sure that the surface in your car where the cake is resting is completely flat. Like, the back of an SUV for instance or in the floor board of your car. The passenger seat is not a good place for a cake. ;0)
I always put some non slip rubber matting in the boot (trunk?) of my car, so I know the cake box isn’t going to move. I also pop a square actually in the cake box underneath the cake drum too. It is very inexpensive and I can usually buy it here in the UK at the £ shop ( as the name suggests, everything is £1, lol) for a roll of it.
Thanks Mrs. Bonbon–Great point about the non slip! You can find inexpensive rubber shelf liner here also and it is great for helping to keep things in place (and for extra peace of mind!)
Hi Melissa..I made the stacked silhouette cake and had fun doing it. I did have some stacking issues though. As I just re-watched your video, the only step that I didn’t do was to insert a stick to test the depth of the lower tier. I placed my bubble tea straw next to the cake for height & went from there…I think that was my downfall. The lower tier had been settled & I cut and placed 5 bubble tea straws (all cut to the same height) in spots similar to how you placed yours in the video. I added 1 more in the middle. Well….I then placed my 3 layer 6″ on top and it “teetered”a little. Didn’t become flush w/the lower tier like yours did. Next day..removed top tier from bottom to find all 5 bubble tea straws sticking up through the top of the lower tier..so I wonder, did my top tier sink into the lower; did the lower tier settle more…I just don’t know. I appreciate your feedback & back to the drawing board.:-)
Hi Paula– I saw your silhouette cake in the gallery and was so happy that you made it!
Let’s see.. did you settle your tiers before frosting? The straws were sticking up as a result of the bottom tier settling more. I like to settle my tiers several hours or overnight beneath a weight (thin book or thick magazine) which will add a steady but not crushing pressure. I go over this in my crumb coating video. This gets all of the settling out of the way. I also cut my supports ever so slightly lower than my tier to account for any further settling that happens.
The reason for using the skewer or something to measure the height of your cake in different spots before marking where to cut your supports is that your cake may not be quite as level as you think across the top of your cake. So, you can make any necessary adjustments at this time before stacking…or if it is just the slightest difference in height from point to point on your cake, go with the shortest measurement. The fact that you cake teetered a little when you placed it makes it seem like maybe it wasn’t level to begin with. (I demonstrate in my crumb coating cake video also the use of a bubble level if you want to be sure that things are straight!–Really helpful tool to have on hand!)
You will get it next time! It takes a little trial and error at first. You should be proud of your cake though, I thought that it looked really nice. Hope this helps!
Thanks very much Melissa for all of your helpful instruction and support. I watch and re-watch your videos and you are very clear and detailed in your instructions…I agree that my lower tier settled even more. I did settle it, but only for a few hours. As I continue baking/decorating and trying to be successful at stacking, I think I will get a bubble level. I can definately see it’s value. Thanks again for your compliments and encouragement. I’m glad that I tried and I do want to make more silhouettes..they look really neat!!
Hi, Melissa. I’m not sure what happened, but my comment and question disappeared! When making a tiered cake, and the client wants the top tier to be on pillars that show, maybe 4 inches or so, is there anything different that should be done to stabilize the top tier? I assume the procedure is the same, you just leave the pillars longer in length . . . right?
Thank you.
Hi Jean–I’m sorry you didn’t see my answer– your question was actually posted under our SPS/Autumn cake–I’m linking you to that page so that you can see my answer and the link that I included to our tier separations video–
https://www.mycakeschool.com/video-tutorials/autumnsps/
Hi Melissa, great site, am new here, question do you think I need to do the straws if I am putting a dummy cake as 2nd tier, intend doing ruffle cake on bottom with
a painted dummy 2nd tier which will have 2 gumpaste people on top, prob 8 and 6 inch
Hi there–I would to be on the safe side. Once the dummies are frosted or covered with fondant, they are surprisingly heavy. I actually even put straws under my cake toppers sometimes for fear that they’ll sink ;) Good luck with your cake–it sounds like it is going to be beautiful!
Hi Melissa, if I am doing a 2 tiered cake like this but covering both tiers in fondant, should I stick the dowels in before I cover in fondant or after ?
Hi Natalie–I put my dowels in as a last step before stacking. So, I cover with fondant first.
Thanks Melissa, fingers crossed, thanks for the advice, hopefully will post a pic if it doesn’t go wrong ha ha
Hi Melissa and Bebe,
How tall can you make one tier before it needs supports? For example, your top tier, if that was a single cake, how much higher can you go before it needs a form of support?
Thanks for all your help.
Hi Avril– Doweling/adding supports & a cake board for approximately every 4 inches of height is a pretty common rule of thumb. Not only does it keep your tiers structurally sound, it also makes slicing and serving much easier. A 6″ tall piece of cake would be a BIG piece of cake ;0) —
I have had 5″ tall tiers that I didn’t dowel within, but that was probably pushing it a little. I wouldn’t go any taller than that without adding supports.
Thanks Mellisa :) That helps a lot.
Hi Melissa,
I’m making a 4, 8″ layer cake. Could you please tell me if I need to add a cake board between the first two layers or do I just add the tea straws? I’m new to cake stacking.
Thank you,
Cindy
Hi Cindy, We usually add support with 4 inches of height. You would add bubble tea straws to your first two cake layers, then a cake board and add the second 2 cake layers. You will have a double barrel cake. Here is a link to Melissa’s double barrel cake video, it you would like to watch it. Good Luck with your cake.
Thank you so much. I will watch the double barrel cake video.
Thanks you so much for the wonderful video. I always seem to struggle with stacking.
I just purchased some bubble tea straws and when I cut them with scissors they don’t cut straight. I try to keep the scissors as straight as possible but I think when I snip the straw it makes them slant a bit. they are not level.
Would you know what I am doing wrong? Thank you.
Saba
I need some advice please. I am doing my first wedding cake. It is for the day after thanksgiving, and 2 hrs away. For obvious reasons, I cannot do this last minute. The tiers are made and decorated with crusting cream cheese frosting (pretty petal effect. ) The support system is already in place. Tiers are in individual boxes, with layers of plastic wrap and in freezer. I plan to take them in coolers to destination. My question is, how do you recommend the stacking and defrost? I want the layers to be as fresh as possible, but I also want to make sure the decorations hold. Should I stack while frozen or after thawing? Thank you
Hi Melissa and BeBe, I have a shower cake due this Saturday and the client wants a two tier cake that serves 100 people. It leaves me no choice but to do a 12 inch 3 layer cake. Will a 3 layer of that size be stable? In your opinion, what size should the top layer be? 10 inch 3 layer or 9 inch? Thanks girls!!
Hi Terri, A 12 inch three layer cake would be stable, but I think you only need to do a two layer 12 inch tier…..unless you want the look of a 3 layer tier. It will serve the same number whether it is 2 layers or 3 layers. Looking at the Wilton serving chart this will serve 56. We like to have 2 to 3 inches space beside the second tier so I would do a 2 layer 9 inch tier, this tier will serve 32. So even though your customer only wants a 2 tier, to get 100 servings you will need to add a 6 inch top tier that will serve 12. Another option would be to do a smaller tiered cake for display and another plainly decorated cake to make up the extra servings that is cut in the kitchen ( also known as a kitchen cake). Good Luck
Two questions for you.I just made my first stacked cakes this past weekend.Two questions I have.One,do you wrap the cake board with anything,wax paper maybe?The board that is inbetween the two tiers.When I removed the top 6″ so I could cut the bottom 8″ cake the icing from top the 8″went with/stuck on the cake board.This is normal?
Also does the bottom cake have to be on a cake board?I found it slipped around so much on my turn table while icing it.I guess a cake board is necessary if stacking THEN moving cake to serving plate?or can I move a cake to serving plate not on board and just iced,THEN decorate then stack?I need help with the order of things!!I hope I made sense!!LOL!
Hi CakerJoy- Sorry for the delay! ;0) —
Let’s see…
We do not wrap our cake boards with anything. Some people do, but we haven’t had trouble with our boards softening, etc. While we don’t use the special grease proof cake boards, we’ve tried them in the past and they do work well.. they are just a bit more $.
For your 2nd question~ There are a few things that can help with this. I just make sure that my bottom tier is crusted before placing the top tier. When I go to separate the tiers, I have a long thin knife that I slide beneath the top tier to help reduce the chance of frosting coming off with the cake. This really seems to keep things under control. There are some decorators who will scatter sprinkles or chocolate shavings/chips, etc in the place where the tiers will be stacked to prevent sticking. If you go this route, just make sure that you still spread a dollop of frosting in the center to help keep the top tier from sliding during transport ;0)
I do like to have my bottom cake on a cake board so that I can easily place on the turntable & move to the final plate/base. You can prevent it from sliding around on the turntable either with a smear of frosting beneath the cake board, or a square of non-slip rubber shelf liner. If you really just prefer to decorate the bottom cake on the serving plate, that is fine too..just a little trickier. You can place pieces of waxed paper just partially beneath the cake to keep the plate clean as you decorate. I hope this helps!
Thanks again!I know these were such basic questions but the basics are important and I want to get it right.Yes this helps!
Hi Melissa! Well, I tried again. I made a “practice” 2 tier cake (the photo is in the gallery). I have been intimidated by stacking but I put my big girl pants on and went for it.
I used the bubble tea straws and had better luck this time as opposed to last time. My bottom tier did settle a bit more, as I saw when I removed the top tier. The straws were sticking up but just the tiniest bit, so they had no effect on the top tier. The top was straight! Yay!!
But…even though I watched this video a (at least 5 times) and re-read questions
and answers, when I removed my top tier, the frosting from the top of the bottom tier stuck to the cake board the top tier was sitting on. My bottom tier was crusted and I added a small amount of buttercream to the center. I let my cake come to almost room temp then took off the top tier. Should I have done this while still really cold??? Thank you..
Hi, you explain everything and anything to do with cakes perfectly for me! Thank you sooo much! My question is, do I still spread a dollop of icing on top of my bottom cake before placing the second tier cake on top, if they are covered in fondant?
Hi Melliekaye, Yes, you will need to spread a dollop of buttercream, royal icing, or melted chocolate. This will keep it from sliding around when you are transporting the cake. Melted chocolate is a good choice whenever you think you need extra strength.
I’ve been making cakes for only just over a year, I never realized how much extra work I made for myself and how wrong I was doing things lol. You make making sense of direction so easy! I’m so happy I found this website and I couldn’t be happier about joining!!
I’m so happy that you found this video helpful, Karen! Thank you for your kind words! xoxo
Hi, I was wondering if you had a video showing the best way to frost and stack a cake with a non crusting buttercream. Would you stack and then frost the whole thing or frost individual tiers and stack like in this video? Seems like it would be lots messier with damage to the frosting either way. Thanks very much.
hi Melissa couple of questions, i have a cake to deliver very early on saturday, so i am planning to leave each fondant tier at room temperature, then stack the next day, before stacking i know i have to chill tiers in the freezer,
1. do you think it may be an issue that the cake will be for at least 8 hours at room temperature before put it in the freezer to stack. I have never stack this way, so i am nervous.
2. Or will you recommend leave the tiers at fridge overnight? If so, do i start stacking before the condensation occurs or should i wait the cake dries to start stacking?
3. How long in advance can i stack, have you stacked your cakes 24 hours before the event?
Thank you
Hi Fanny-
You’ll see different approaches to this question and with good results either way. It’s fine to leave your tiers in a cool room for 8 hours (assuming the filling and frosting is not perishable). However, I tend to refrigerate my tiers when decorating in advance and have never had an issue. So, I usually refrigerate my tiers in bakery boxes and I have also stacked my tiers a day in advance (and refrigerated). This is assuming that you are comfortable with traveling with stacked tiers.
Are you working with a fondant that does well in the refrigerator? Fondant brands and recipes can differ in their versatility with temperature changes. Also, refrigerators can differ in their humidity levels. If you’ve never refrigerated your fondant cake before, I would at least place a piece of fondant in there for several hours and see how it does. I’ve used Liz Marek’s recipe in the refrigerator as well as Satin Ice and Wilton fondant with no issues.
If you have refrigerated your tiers overnight, I would go ahead and stack while everything is firm. If any condensation forms, it will evaporate (but you can speed things up by placing near a fan.)
If you decide to let the cakes sit at room temp overnight, and are preparing to stack, just see what you think. Some decorators do not chill their fondant tiers before stacking. With buttercream frosted cakes, it is essential. But for fondant, it can go either way. I tend to pop them in the freezer for maybe 5 minutes or so to firm up the layer of ganache or buttercream beneath the fondant before stacking.
Let us know if you have any more questions!
Thanks for taking the time to answer me, that is valuable information, i am using Michelle Foster fondant recipe, i have never fridge tiers overnight, i am afraid the cake will dry out, i know the fondant and bc will protect cakes from drying, but i am still not comfortable fridging cakes, i guess there is always a first time, and i will have to try fridging, yesterday i covered a dummy with fondant, place it the fridge overnight in a box, when i took it out this morning it did not sweat at all, but wondering if it is because is a dummy not a cake, maybe a cake will behave different, i will have to make a test. Thanks for your help!
What happens if your bottom tier isn’t completely level? I know you said to cut the straws to the lowest point, but does the weight then level it out? Also, my low point (unlevel area) is actually along the rim of the tier & won’t be a spot that I will put a dowel/straw (I think the book I used to settle the cake caused it) what should I do in this situation?
Hi Jacqueline, generally, if the difference is very little between the highest point of the tier and the lowest, the weight should settle things out (although you could help it along with a little trimming if needed). In your case where you have a low point outside of where your dowels will be, I would just build it up with a bit of frosting.
How do you keep the tiers together? There’s no need to stack them together?
Thanks
I am doing a 3 tier cake and they want each tier on its own decorated cake base because they don’t want the ribbon on the cake so how would you go about stacking this cake
I am doing a 3 tier cake and they want each tier on its own decorated cake base because they don’t want the ribbon on the cake so how would you go about stacking this cake. I will also need to travel with it stacked already. Thank you in advance.
Hi Crystal- I’m not completely sure that I’m understanding your question. You would chill the tiers to firm up the frosting before stacking so that there’s no worry of messing up the frosting. And of course, you would add supports beneath each tier, cut to the height of the tier below it.
If you’re saying that the decorated cake base beneath each tier is larger than the tier, you’ll space out your supports based on the width of the cake base.
I would also hammer a sharpened dowel (1/4 inch width) down through all of the tiers and into the cake base (assuming that your cake bases are not plastic and can accept a dowel being hammered through it). I hope this makes sense- let me know if you have any questions!