Tiered black and white birthday cake advice please?

[MrsNextDoor]

DD is turning 11 soon and would like a black and white cake...2 tiers I think...like the one she saw in the swish bakery near our house.

I am crafty but not used to dealing with sugar paste...do I need to bake 2 maderia cakes then? And should I buy something to put in the bottom layer to support the top? HOw far in advance can the cake be baked?

The decorations on the one she admired were simple...I think it was stripes running down with "beads" draped....and a butterly on top.

Help?

Oh and what apart from sugar paste do I need to buy? Is there something that goes on top of the icing when it's done? Some powder or something? Have I imagined that?

Decide on what sizes you want eg an 8 and 6 inch, I bake my cakes weeks in advance and then freeze them well wrapped in cling film. Use a Madeira type recipe so sponge will be "strong" enough, I use BBC Easy Vanilla cake recipe. Put the cakes on a thin board the same size and buttercream, leave overnight in fridge and cover with fondant the next day.

Yes dowel the bottom cake to support the weight of top cake, you can use big straws for this to.

Oh and good luck!

Stripes are really hard to do neatly, could you adapt the design to skip that bit?
If you want black, buy ready-coloured paste, it's a pig to colour it yourself. Unfortunately I think renshaws is the most readily available black and I find it very sticky and soft to work with so I'd only use it with some tylose powder (also called cmc) added.
Make sure your cakes are level before stacking and you can use some royal icing piped between tiers to hold it in place, although if you are not transporting it anywhere, it's not so important.

what about Lorraine Pascale's Hidden Tiger cake?

All the stripes are on the inside, and be a surprise for her and would be much less hassle than faffing with fondant stripes.