Cake stacking - when to ice?

[blueskiesbrighteyes]

I'm making a 2 (possibly 3) tier cake for DP's birthday. Never made one before but inspired by the GBBO! Do I ice and decorate each cake and then stack, or stack first and then decorate? Grateful for advice!

What type of icing and decorating are you planning on doing? If you plan to ice them in fondant then do this before you stack. But any finer details are much easier when added after stacking. Good luck!

Chocolate ganache on bottom and middle and lemon drizzle on the top. What do you think?

Chocolate ganache on bottom and middle and lemon drizzle on the top. What do you think?

Decoration is relatively simple - chocolate fingers round the edge on the bottom/chocolate stars/sprinkles that kind of thing

Interesting flavour combo! If you're icing them all in a ganache then I'd ice each cake individually before stacking and then add your decorations (fingers, stars etc) once stacked.

You'll want to chill them before stacking so they're a bit more solid and less likely to be damaged. You can also pipe around where the two cakes join to make it look neater if it's not quite perfect.

Yeah I'd cover in buttercream/icing/ganache then add decoration once stacked. Make sure there's dowels & cake boards between each layers, especially if doing choc ganache as it will be quite heavy

Brilliant, thanks so much! Haha yes it's all chocolate on the bottom, raspberry and white choc in the middle and lemon drizzle on top. Or in theory at least!

Treat them as Individual cakes, stack, and then decorate

Oh do post pics of the end result op!