Wedding Crystal

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April 13th, 2009 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

Wedding Crystal

What is the best way to position spiked crystal look pillars on a 3 tier wedding cake?

Have made my own (gluten and dairy free) 3 tier cake for my wedding Saturday but not sure how to stack it. I have Wilton crystal-look spiked pillars and cake boards but not sure how to balance them. Nice, accurate advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks for nothing so far!

Seriously, are there any people out there not whoring for 2 points who are gonna give me a sane, helpful answer?!

Hi, congratulations on the effort of making your own gluten and dairy free wedding cake! Im proud of you!!
I hope I can help you with the pillars.

I also made my own gluten and dairy free wedding cake.
I did two tiers (10" and 8" octagonals) My cakes rested on ordinary ply cake boards covered with foil.
I had the crystal look pillars between the layers. They were not spiked, so I had to measure and cut 6mm diameter wooden dowelling lengths the height of the pillar plus the cake depth. I slightly sharpened the lower ends of the dowelling to help with their insertion into the cake.
The dowelling was to take the weight of the cake above and were pushed into the cake till they hit the board. The height of the pillars were left exposed. I taped silver paper over the exposed dowelling and the crystal pillars were then slipped over the posts. The cake above was then rested onto the pillars. It worked well.
I had origionally wanted each layer offset from the other but couldnt work out how to do that successfully and had to stack them on top of each other. It still looked good...

I had to google your pillars so I knew what they look like:
I dont know the shapes or sizes you are working with, so can only give general advice for you.

Measure in from the sides of the cakes so the 4 pillars will be evenly spaced away from the sides and at least 4 to 5 inches apart from each other, to evenly support the weight. Try and make it the centre square of the cake.
You will need to be at least the width of the pillar inside the plate above's diameter, or, in line with the upper cake's sides.
You may wish to adjust the distance... the wider base is the more stable.

I used a ruler and measured across and down from two corners of the octagonal cake as a guide for placement. Where they met was my placement spot.

Lightly mark the icing or use buttons as markers until you are happy with your placement positions.

Once satisfied, insert the pillars into the cake, taking care they go in straight.
Do a check by setting the next cake on the 4 pillars you have just inserted. It should be stable and straight. Remove the top cake.

Proceed to the next cake, again measuring up the distances and once satisfied, inserting the pillars.
Check the stack with all three cakes in place. It should be stable standing as it is.

For transporting to the venue, take the stack apart and put each cake flat in a separate container with non-skid mats under the boards.

I used two stacker storage containers with non skid matting under the cakes. They arrived unharmed.

I hope this helps, It took a while finding the right words to explain myself.
All the best,