Wedding cakes: elegant, towering, stunning. Also? One wrong move, and they’re an avalanche waiting to happen. If the thought of stacking one makes you break out in a cold sweat, don’t worry - we’ve got you. Here’s how to keep those tiers from toppling like a drunk uncle on the dance floor.

Think stacking a wedding cake is a nightmare? It can be—if you wing it. But with the right technique (and a few wooden dowels working overtime), you’ll have a stable, stress-free masterpiece.

The process of stacking your wedding cake takes place after the tiers have been baked and sometimes frosted (depending on your style of cake) but before we apply our intricate and colourful decorations.  

The technique of stacking a wedding cake is defined by the way in which each of the tiers sit directly on top of one another, a technique we use for our entire range of wedding cakes. 

Still not sure how we do it? Don’t worry, we have put together a handy step by step tutorial to show you the ins and outs of how to stack a wedding cake. 

Before we begin, arm yourself like a cake-stacking warrior. You’ll need:

• A sturdy cake drum—because wedding cakes are HEAVY.
• Cake boards—each tier needs a solid foundation (gravity isn’t on your side).
• Wooden dowels—tiny, unassuming sticks that will save your cake’s life.
• A serrated knife—for trimming dowels, NOT for stress-induced cake rage.
• Spatula & scraper—to make everything look effortlessly perfect, even if you’re sweating buckets. 

To make this process of cake stacking as easy as possible, after we have frosted our cakes, they are always chilled before stacking to ensure the frosting is firm and the cakes are easy to manoeuvre.

First, let’s rewind slightly and get our tiers ready for stacking after the cakes have chilled following baking. 

Step 1. Place the bottom tier of the cake onto the cake drum. 

Top tip: Cake drums are normally about one inch thick to provide extra support for your wedding cake.

Step 2. The remaining cake tiers should be placed on cake boards of corresponding sizes, eg: an 8" cake should be placed on an 8" board and so on. 

Step 3. Okay, now we can frost our tiers! Using a spatula to do this will ensure a smooth finish. 

Step 4. The tiers are chilled to perfection (think of it as a cake spa treatment). This step isn’t just a nicety—it’s crucial. No one wants a wedding cake that slouches like a bad posture poster. 

Step 5. The tiers should take around 30 minutes to chill, allowing for the frosting to firm up. 

Once the tiers have chilled, we are ready to get stacking! 

Step 6. Dowels are the unsung heroes of wedding cakes. Without them, your tiers will collapse faster than a house of cards. Start by plunging a dowel into the centre of the bottom tier (not too hard—you’re stabilizing, not spearing). Add more dowels in a circle, about 1-2 inches from the edge. These will take the weight of the next tier, so no skipping!

Top tip: The dowels will always be within 1-2 inches from the outer-edge of the tier. 

Step 7. Grab your cake decorating pen and mark where each dowel reaches the top of the cake. 

Step 8. Remove the dowels and use your serrated knife to score them so that they snap cleanly. 

Step 9.  Re-insert the dowels back into your bottom tier. 

Top tip: The dowels should not sit above the top of your tier. If this happens your upper tiers will not sit evenly. 

Step 10. Pipe some buttercream on the bottom tier. Pick up your next tier and carefully place it on top of the bottom tier using the spatula for support if needed. 

Step 11. From this point on we are now starting to repeat the process of inserting the wooden cake dowels. As before, start by inserting one dowel into the centre of your tier and press down until you feel it touch the cake board. Repeat this step in a circle around the central dowel.

Top tip: As you add each of the upper tiers, fewer dowels will be used.

Step 12. Mark each of the dowels where they meet the top of this tier with your cake decorating pen, remove them to cut accordingly and re-insert so that the surface of the tier is clear.

Let’s imagine for arguments sake that we are making a four-tiered cake and we are now going to stack our top tier but technically we could keep going with this process, dependent on how tall our wedding cake is.

Step 13. Deep breath. This is it—the moment of truth. The final tier. Position it carefully, like it’s the crown jewel of the cake kingdom. No wobbling, no sliding, just pure, satisfying alignment. Once it’s settled, pipe buttercream around the edges to seamlessly blend each layer. Step back. Admire. You did it.

Bonus tip: If a cake needs extra support, for example if it is a heavy fruit cake, a central dowel can be inserted through the length of all the tiers. 

There you have it! A wedding cake stacked in no time, with all the mechanics hidden behind the scenes. How clever!

Now it’s time for the fun bit… decorating!

Frequently Asked Questions About Stacking Wedding Cakes

How many dowels are required per tier? This all depends on the size of each tier but as standard between 3-9 dowels are used per tier. 

Each of my tiers are a different flavour. Does it matter how I stack them? Does it matter? Not unless you want a structural catastrophe. If you’re stacking vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet, go nuts. But if one of those tiers is a fruitcake, that bad boy needs to be at the bottom—unless you want a wedding cake landslide.

How do you insert the final rod for extra support easily through the length of the cake? You will need to drill a hole big enough to fit the central dowel through all the cake boards for the tiers (except for the bottom tier of course). This will then allow you to easily slot each tier down the central dowel. However, we do not do this in our bakery as if in the unfortunately case of an accident on delivery, a central dowel will do far more damage by ripping through the whole cake.

We hope you found out wedding cake stacking tutorial helpful.

If you think of any more questions, please feel free to add them to the comments section below.

Are you in the process of choosing your wedding cake? Check out our full range of cakes for some inspiration here and find information on all our wedding cake sizes and prices here.