Cake board and dowels for two tier cake?

[Alissajade]

Hi I've never made anything extra cake wise and I'm making a two tier cake this week, I'm unsure if I need a cake board and dowels as it is only two tier.. someone help?

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Hi I've never made anything extra cake wise and I'm making a two tier cake this week, I'm unsure if I need a cake board and dowels as it is only two tier.. someone help?

Each tiers will need a board underneath it. I don’t even know how you could torte, dam, fill, stack, crumb coat, and decorate a tier without having a good cake board underneath it.

Each tier that has a tier stacked on top should have dowels in it to support the above tier. The very top tier does not need dowel because it does have anything stacked on top. The only time you MIGHT not dowel would be if you were putting a tiny little 4” tier on top of a large tier such as a 9“ tier.

But it’s about the weight of the tier that matters, not the diameter. The last thing you want is for the center of your lower tier to cave-in from the weight of the tier above.

If you’re new to cake baking and you plan to use fondant, keep in mind you must de-gas the cake the night before. Just go ahead and create your tier, crumb coat. Insert a straw down the center of the tier to release the gas, put it in the refrigerator overnight. Just make sure the cake is in a brand new clean heavy corrugated cardboard box. Leave it on the counter in the box to come to room temperature before covering with fondant. The box will keep the cake from drying out in the fridge and keep condensation from building up on the cake. Condensation will ruin fondant.

I posted information on doweling and stacking cakes in a thread a couple of days ago. Just scroll through for the link to a video and diagram

Perfecting Cake Mixing Techniques

I’m baking at 160, could it be that the temp is too low? I’m sure I remember you saying that this is the best temp for baking though so I’m assuming not...

www.baking-forums.com

Edit: just needed to clarify about the fondant because I realized I wasn’t very clear. When your cover a cake with fondant, the crumb coat needs to be to chilled, but the center of the cake cake cannot be cold. If the cake is refrigerated overnight and the center is ice cold, the extreme temperature difference of the air and the cake will cause condensation to form on the cake surface. The moisture will cause the fondant to breakdown. To prevent condensation from forming on the cake you have to allow the cake center to come up to temperature. Then chill the cake for 15 or 20 minutes to just harden the icing to start the fondant process.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

PS a cake board is not the same as a cake drum. Drums are made of multiple cake boards glued together and covered with decorative grease proof food safe paper. It it larger in diameter than the cake. The cake is placed on a cake drum and serves as a decorative base.

A cake board is thin cardboard or foam core board; is cut to the diameter of the cake. It supports the tier.

 

[Alissajade]

Each tiers will need a board underneath it. I don’t even know how you could torte, dam, fill, stack, crumb coat, and decorate a tier without having a good cake board underneath it.

Each tier that has a tier stacked on top should have dowels in it to support the above tier. The very top tier does not need dowel because it does have anything stacked on top. The only time you MIGHT not dowel would be if you were putting a tiny little 4” tier on top of a large tier such as a 9“ tier.

But it’s about the weight of the tier that matters, not the diameter. The last thing you want is for the center of your lower tier to cave-in from the weight of the tier above.

If you’re new to cake baking and you plan to use fondant, keep in mind you must de-gas the cake the night before. Just go ahead and create your tier, crumb coat. Insert a straw down the center of the tier to release the gas, put it in the refrigerator overnight. Just make sure the cake is in a brand new clean heavy corrugated cardboard box. Leave it on the counter in the box to come to room temperature before covering with fondant. The box will keep the cake from drying out in the fridge and keep condensation from building up on the cake. Condensation will ruin fondant.

I posted information on doweling and stacking cakes in a thread a couple of days ago. Just scroll through for the link to a video and diagram

Perfecting Cake Mixing Techniques

I’m baking at 160, could it be that the temp is too low? I’m sure I remember you saying that this is the best temp for baking though so I’m assuming not...

www.baking-forums.com

Thank you so much

 

[Norcalbaker59]

You don’t have to use a cake drum for your cakes. If you do a lot of cakes they can be a bit expensive. If you just want a decorative liner they make decorative cake boards for that purpose. They of course will not support the weight like a drum, so you can’t move an assembled cake on them. It’s just to place under the cake.

From top to bottom: cake board, cake drum, decorative cake boards.