Wedding cake dowelling

[LondonInHighHeeledBoots]

I'm making my own wedding cake later this year and am a bit stuck on how to dowel it properly. I have made them before but always on a stand so am capable just worried the whole damn thing will collapse

It will be four tiers,three sponge and the top a fruit. The internets are telling me that four or 6 wooden dowels through the individual tiers with a cake board will work - can someone reassure me it will or tell me what will!

Any advice will be really really appreciated - getting quite nervous now!

Hi London, when i made a wedding cake in June i made i made 3 tiers, bottom was fruit, 12inch, then 9 and 6 inch sponges, i went mad with the dowels, put about 9in the bottom, secured it with royal icing then more dowels, etc , was very worried about it falling over but it was fine, even after travelling an hrs drive.

Dowels are nice and easy (you'll be pleased to know :-) )

Get hold of some Wilton dowels- nice big hollow ones. Are you sugarpasting the cakes?

When I transport sugarpasted tiered cakes I tend to do (4 tiers) stacked as 2 and 2 and then pop them together at the venue- but you can do all the dowelling in advance. Do 4 dowels in the bottom tier (12"?), 4 in the next up, then 3 on the one above that. A bit of royal icing over the area where the cake will sit and you're done! Stack your cakes (2 and 2) the night before to allow the royal icing to dry nicely- earlier than that if you're going to pipe around the base of the cakes as you'll want to let the cakes settle before piping.

All the cakes should be on their own thin board, (the same size as the cake it's on), apart from the bottom which should be on a cake drum a few inches bigger.

Don't do wooden dowels- simply not necessary and far too much faff. Wilton hollow dowels are your friend (and the hollow nature means you can test the cake too!)