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Stacking a buttercream cake can feel nerve-wracking—especially when you’re working with two tiers and one wrong move can ruin hours of work 😩🎂
Smudged buttercream, uneven layers, sliding tiers… it can go left fast if you don’t know the right steps.
The good news? Stacking buttercream cakes doesn’t have to be stressful or scary. With the right techniques, you can create clean, sturdy, professional-looking tiers that hold up beautifully.
In this post, I’m sharing my top tips for stacking a 2-tier buttercream cake flawlessly—from prep to final placement—so your cake stays straight, smooth, and intact.
#1
Flatten and Level the Bottom Tier
Leveling the Bottom Tier is so important! The top tier needs a flat surface to sit on to prevent any mishaps. Sometimes it is hard to eyeball a perfectly flat surface. To help with this, I use a leveler. This helps you adjust and fix any spots that are not leveled. If this step is skipped, cake will not look straight and start leaning.
#2
Dowel Cake Properly
This is the most important step! Make Sure you are using enough Dowels in your bottom tier. This cake is an 8 inch on the bottom, supporting a 6 inch cake on top. I use 4 dowels to support the edges of the cake and 1 center dowel. This makes the spacing of the dowels easier, so I recommend minimum 5 dowels but using 6 dowels would be ideal.
A good rule of thumb is to use the same number of dowels as the size of the cake that you are supporting. So a 6 inch cake = 6 dowels. 8 inch cake on top = 8 dowels etc.
The best dowels I use as a professional Cake Decorator are these Large Bubble Straws. They are durable, thick, has a large surface area, and can be easily seen by the customer, ensuring proper removal.
#3
Add Buttercream Between Layers & Stack
Before actually getting to this post, Chill the Cakes very well. You want the buttercream to be completely firm. This reduces the smudging of the buttercream. If you need a Great Buttercream Recipe for stacking cakes, use mine!
After chilling both tiers, cover the dowels with buttercream. This acts like glue for the top tier and prevents the top tier from sliding around.
Stack the buttercream cake carefully as to not ruin all the smoothing or combed decorations on the cake.
Do NOT fully decorate the cake before stacking. You are only asking for trouble if you do.
#3
Add a Long Dowel in the Center of the Cake
This dowel must be sturdy and long enough to pass through both cakes and into the cake board. I use minimum 12 inch wooden skewers. Then use a hammer to force the skewers through the cake round between the tiers, and into the Cake Board.
#4
Fill in the Space between the tiers & at the Bottom with Buttercream
This step will help secure the tiers together and clean up the look. If using a good buttercream, it should smooth out nicely.
#5
Use a bench scraper to smooth buttercream.
Make sure your bench scraper has flat sides and the handle is even with the scraper. This will help you keep the sides straight and even. If you don't have one, get a Bench Scraper here!
#6
Clean up excess Buttercream
Use a spatula to clean up the cake board for a clean professional look!
#7
Decorate!
Now is the time to Decorate! Make sure to cover up all the imperfections first. You will be praised for your attention to detail, passion, and professionalism for delivering a flawlessly stacked & decorated cake!
HAPPY CAKING! 🧁🍭
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