Topsy Turvy Cake Tutorial 4 - DOWELING
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- čas přidán 28. 07. 2024
- This is part 4 of 4
In this segment, I demonstrate how to measure and insert dowels into a topsy turvy cake. www.wickedgoodies.net/2017/04/...
LINK TO PART 1: • Topsy Turvy Cake Tutor...
LINK TO PART 2: • Topsy Turvy Cake Tutor...
LINK TO PART 3: • Topsy Turvy Cake Tutor...
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INSTRUCTIONS
How to Dowel & Stack a Topsy Turvy Cake
Once the cakes are frosted and chilled just enough so the buttercream is fully hard, it’s time to add the support infrastructure. I prefer to use wooden dowels, especially for topsy turvy cakes.
1. Mark the top of the cake where you plan to insert the dowels. The dowels should go ½ - 1-inch inside the outline of where the tier above will rest. In the video I’m eyeballing it but I recommend using a parchment paper guide that is the same size as the base of the tier that gets stacked above in order to position your dowels correctly.
2. Insert lollipop sticks or long skewers into the cake. Insert them at a slight angle matching the slope of the cake. You want the dowels to be vertical once the cake is assembled so you have to account for the fact that this tier will be sitting on an angle.
3. Mark the stick to measure the height of the cake. Since the cake is sloped, you will need to do this more than once since the height of some of the dowels will be different.
Remove the sticks from the cake. Be sure to keep careful track of which sticks go with which cake tier.
4. Use the sticks to mark wooden dowels then cut and sand them down to size. I recommend marking the dowels 2 millimeters shorter than the marks on the sticks so there is no chance that the dowels end up being too long. If the dowels extend beyond the surface of the frosting, that could compromise the cake’s stability once it’s stacked.
5. Make sure the matching dowels are true before inserting them into the cake. Press down on each one to make sure they hit the cardboard base.
For larger tiers that require a star configuration of dowels, some of the heights may match but it’s possible that they will all be different so each hole should be measured separately.
How to Use Wood Support Dowels
For the thicker center dowels, use a saw to cut them down to size. To make room in the cake for thicker dowels, I recommend coring out holes using bubble tea straws or an apple corer. If you don’t remove the cake that will be displaced by a thick dowel, you run the risk cracking the surface of the cake from excess pressure. Base tiers often require thicker dowels all around. Top tiers require no vertical support dowels since nothing gets stacked on top.
6. Once the dowels are all inserted into the cake tiers, I recommend decorating each tier separately before assembling the cake. I also recommend placing a piece of parchment paper on the top surface of each of the lower tiers. It should be the same size as the base of the tier that gets stacked above. This will help guide your placement as well as prevent the tiers from sticking together so you can shift them around if you need to when you stack them. It will also make it easier to disassemble the cake when it’s time to cut it.
7. Once the tiers are stacked, secure them from shifting side-to-side by passing long pointed dowels through the cardboard into the tier below. You may need to use a hammer to penetrate the cardboard. I call this type of dowel "horizontal supports" since they prevent the tiers from shifting horizontally.
Once all the tiers are stacked with pointed dowels holding them securely in place, you may add the topper.
Musical soundtrack is "Porch Swing Days" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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So far this is the most informative instructions I have come across for a Topsy Turvy cake. I especially like how you have a separate tutorial for each step of the process instead of one long one. It makes much easier when it is necessary to go back to revisit a step or part of a step when confusion sets in. Thanks for all of you hard work on these.
This is such a great video on how to do a Toppsy Curvey cake
Love this video and I wanted to ask I'm making a cake for my daughters 40th birthday and will have about 40 people. I was going to only do 2 tiers and wanted to know what size layers should I use.
The bottom layers will be a Orange cake with fresh raspberries and a caramel glaze drip. Should I not use fresh fruit? I didn't know if it would cause the cake to slide. I will be traveling with the cake to the party about 30 minutes away. Thank you so much!
Do you ever experience any issues with putting the fondant accents (stripes, lace, diamonds etc.) directly onto the butter cream vs. covering the cake entirely in fondant first and then adding the smaller fondant accents to the fondant covered cake? Thanks.
Essentially, all the same rules apply. I suppose one slight difference is that fondant is absorbent so it gets sticky due to condensation whereas buttercream is slick so moisture beads on its surface. With both mediums, if dark colors are layered onto a white surface, you may encounter some visible bleeding issues. A fondant surface can bleed in every direction since it soaks up the colors. A buttercream surface will bleed in the direction of gravity. Personally I prefer to avoid covering a cake with fondant if there is not reason to do it as it's just one more added step & additional expense.
Making a turvy cake. I try to do a small one but kept sliding a little bit down. Any tips on how to keep from sliding??
Do you mean that your upper tiers are sliding downhill when you assemble the cake? I'm going to go ahead and assume that's the case (if it's not, please tell me more). The long pointed dowels are supposed to prevent that from happening. I recommend making sure they pierce through the cake cardboard and sink deep into the tier below. Also make sure to use a minimum of two long pointed dowels for every pair of tiers you are joining together. I should add that it's normal to experience some slippage on the first few tries. This is the most challenging step in the topsy turvy cake making process.
I have a question. I am getting ready to dowel my cake layers. My cake is very turvy and I am wondering if you ever run a pointed dowel through all of the layers? When I look at my cake compared to yours it reminds me of an episode of Martha Stewart. She had Julia Child on, it was the holiday season so they were each making a crocumbuche. Martha’s turned out straight and plum. Julia’s looked like the leaning Tower of Pisa. In her trademark voice she said “Oh, mine doesn’t look as nice as yours”. That is how I feel when I compare my cake to yours.
Yes you can certainly hammer a long pointed dowel or two through the center of all the tiers, to increase stability. If it's super turvy, consider waiting to assemble until you arrive at the destination. Good luck and bon appetite (in my Julia voice). If perchance it topples (let's hope not!) then bon app-attempt ;)