i’ve never made a tiered cake before and I’m about to make one for my grandma’s 80th birthday in 2 weeks
I want it to be perfect for her.
I have some questions I would like to get clarified

1. What type of straws do you use when you do the tiered cake. In Rose’s tip and her youtube video she uses straws and puts that into the bottom tier before putting on the other layer. Do you have to buy strong straws? I mean…the stuff you normally get is rather flimsy, i don’t see why it would help the cake structure
2. Is mouseline BC too soft? I love it and would like to use it for my cakes
3. How long can mouseline BC stay out in room temp for before it goes bad?
I’ll take the cake out of the fridge Approx an hour before dinner…to transport to dinner location and to build it there.
Dinenr will be 2-3 hours long.
So it needs to be out of the fridge for at least 4 hours.
I want to make sure it’ll be ok and i won’t give anyone tummy aches.

Thanks!
I’ll post pics after i’m done

It’s so nice that you’re going to make your grandmother a cake!

1. I used milk shake straws, which are similar (or maybe the same) as bubble tea straws, when I did a tiered cake.  They worked very well.  The straws and the cardboard rounds underneath the tiers make a support system so that each tier rests on the cardboard and straws, rather than directly on the cake beneath it.  The cake around the straws lends support to the structure, but you don’t actually just rest the tier directly on the cake below it.  I left a tiny margin between tiers so the frosting wasn’t messed up, and it wasn’t noticeable on the finished cake.

2. No, it’s perfect.

3. According to the Cake Bible, 2 days at room temp, so you’re fine with only 4 hours.

What kind of cake are you making?

I’m planning on making chocolate cakes
the top one will have pistachio Buttercream
and bottom layer will use strawberry buttercream

hum..i’ll have to go find straws now
we have really weak normal straws at home. I don’t think those will do.

I get the bubble tea straws at Asian groceries; you can also get them online if you don’t have one near you.  Crafts stores usually have a cake decorating section and larger plastic dowels (4 to a package, they’re about 12” long) available if you cannot find bubble tea straws.

just got the straws yesterday from the grocery store.
hum….for the cake, I notice the recipe she uses in heavenly cake are for short pans. I was going to use my 9 in and 6 in spring foam pan so I bake one 9 in cake and one 6 in cake….can I still use my spring foam pans and just wrap foil on the outside or something like that?

Which chocolate cake are you making and how deep is your springform?  Rose says that her butter cakes generally don’t do well in 3” tall pans.

Oh no…really?
I thought all spring foam pans are 3 in tall.
What about her recipes that need spring foam?
My 6 in pan is definitely 3 in
The 9 in is a quarter of 3 in
So basically 3 in…
I’ve never seen a spring foam shorter then 3

What should I do?

Did anyone ever figure out how to use her recipes in 3in tall pans?
Would flower nail in the centre and magic strips on the side work?

Which recipe are you using?  There may be some things to try, like using whole eggs or reducing baking powder.

Springforms are often 2.5” tall or 3” tall.  Are you making a recipe that calls for a springform? You could try a test cake, filling only half full, using a nail and cake strips and see what happens.  I believe the objection is that texture is compromised in deeper layers.

I was thinking either the Perfect all-American Chocolate Butter Cake or Perfect All American Chocolate Torte from the cake bible since both of them are butter cakes so they will be fine in the layered situation.
I don’t think I can bake sponge cakes for layered cakes.

The butter cake is suppose to be baked in 2 separate pans while the torte is one pan that’s 2 in tall or springfoam.
But i guess her Springfoam is shorter since mine is 3in tall

I would like a 3in tall take so i can actually cut up into layers.

i don’t have 9in pans that are 1 1/2 in tall
i have 8 in pans that are 1 1/1 in tall…
but my smaller pan is 6 inches so i thought the 9 and 6 would be perfect..
8 and 6 is a bit too close….

I’m leaning towards using the torte and adding 1/3 more recipe?

i might use Miette’s Tomboy recipe for the 6in cake since that’s suppose to be the right pan size

Aggie - 13 October 2011 10:41 PM

I was thinking either the Perfect all-American Chocolate Butter Cake or Perfect All American Chocolate Torte

Perhaps stick with the whole-egg version, as that may give a bit more structure to help the cake hold itself up under a deeper layer.

I don’t think I can bake sponge cakes for layered cakes.

You can make sponge cakes into layer cakes- Rose has recipes in the wedding cake section of the Cake Bible for vanilla or chocolate genoise wedding cakes, and in RHC there’s the deep chocolate passion, which is a (non-traditional)chiffon base.  I haven’t tried it myself, but Hector reports that cakes like biscuit de savoie and genoise work in deeper pans, better than butter cakes.

I would like a 3in tall take so i can actually cut up into layers.

By the time you make test cakes to figure ouut the right changes for a deeper layer, it may be easier to just make two layers in 2” deep pans.  Each will bake up to about 1.5”, so that will give you the three inches of cake in the tier that you’re looking for.  You could also consider going elsewhere for recipes, there are some authors who give recipes for 3” deep pans.  I think Rose doesn’t do the 3” layers because of the compromised texture.

i don’t have 9in pans that are 1 1/2 in tall

Do you have 2” deep pans?  Then you can just increase the recipe according to the notes in the sidebar (or use the wedding cake section) and bake two layers for each tier.

i might use Miette’s Tomboy recipe for the 6in cake since that’s suppose to be the right pan size

Sounds perfect!

Good luck!

wow so i went downstairs to measure the pans i thought were 8in…
and it turns out they were 9
apparently the measuring tape i used previously was wrong lol…it was “china” inches which apparently is slightly different…
so i have 9in 2in tall pans YAY so i can use the all american chocolate butter cake

will be baking tonight

going to also finish off some fondant decorations tonight…lots of baking to do

i found my family doesn’t like the geniose very much…so i don’t think i’ll try that tonight.

i think it’s a texture thing..
they like pound cakes, chiffons and sponge cakes because chinese bakery uses sponge cakes..

pity i will never be able to make a cake like the chinese bakery b/c i refuse to use Ovalett

thanks guys for the help
my first multi level cake worked
didn’t sink

i found a bit of the 9in was a little dense…like it didn’t bake properly…but when i baked it it looked good
the 9in cake domed…but after it was out of the oven it flattened out

omg the Miette’s Tomboy was awesome!!! it was super moist..and the flavour was wonderful
people liked that one even more then the butter cake!

I need to find a way to bake that in the 9in pan

Learnt several things from this
one being not to make straws taller then the cake like Rose suggests in THC since I did fondant.
I made the straws 1/8 in taller and you can clearly see the gap inbetween the cake.
Since it’s fondant i don’t have to worry about BC sticking so I think next time I’ll make the straws the same level as the cake
oh here’s links to the pics i posted

Cake
Inside 6in
Inside 9in
The Fondant boa at the top

Congratulations, Aggie!  Your cake looks great, very professional- you have beautiful calligraphy skills!  I’ll bet your grandmother was thrilled .

That is a beautiful cake!!!! Really nice work!!

Wow!  What a beautiful cake!!!!!  Congratulations!  I’m sure your grandmother was astounded!!!!