I LOVE a nice tall cake. It just looks elegant and stately. Can a cake look stately? Anyway, I’m a big fan of the tall cake, but there are a few tricks and tips to know about before you make one. You could have a disaster on your hands if not done correctly, so I thought I’d put together my tips and tricks on how to make a tall cake (or as some call it, a double barrel cake).
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There are a multitude of ways to make a tall cake, but the number one thing to remember is that you need to have a support system in place.
In this post, I wanted to give you plenty of details. I’ve got some screenshots of how I put this cake together, but you can also watch the video toward the end of this post to see it actually being made.
Oh and if you want to get ALL my tips on how to stack tiered cake (with different sized tiers), then you’ll want to see this post here.
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Supplies Needed to Make a Tall Cake:
- Cake Layers (Anywhere from 4 to 6 layers – we’ll talk about this in a bit.) I used 6″ round cake layers – Here’s my favorite cake recipe: Favorite Vanilla Bean Cake Recipe
- Cake Leveler
- Cake Base (A few inches larger than your cake layers – I like foam boards)
- Cake Rounds (The same size as your cake layers)
- White candy melts (For attaching the cake boards)
- Cake Turn Table
- Buttercream (You can grab my buttercream recipe here: Vanilla Bean Buttercream Recipe)
- Icing Spatulas
- Mini Level
- Wax Paper
- Icing Smoother (You’ll need a tall one) Here are a few options: Tall Plastic Icing Smoother, Tall Metal Icing Smoother
- Dowels for stacking the cake layers. I love using Poly Dowels. For the link to the official poly dowels, click here: Poly-Dowels Here are some other options for plastic ‘cuttable’ dowels.
- Center wooden dowel (The dowel that goes all the way through the cake and into the cake base. This is really just a tall wooden dowel that you can probably get at any craft store.)
- Pencil sharpener (for sharpening the center dowel)
- Edible marker (for marking the dowels) The Americolor brand seems to last a long time for me.
- Knife (for trimming the cake)
- Hot water (for smoothing the buttercream if you use the metal smoother)
- Optional: Gumpaste Rose – Here is my tutorial on that: How to Make a Large Gumpaste Rose
Options for Making a Tall Cake:
Ok, the most important thing about making a tall cake is that you MUST have support in your cake. By ‘support’, I mean doweling inside.
Any cake that will be taller than three layers, needs to have support if you’ll be adding more cake layers on top. Sometimes you can get away with four layers, but honestly, I don’t test it.
The reason is that the cake gets too heavy. It could just collapse on itself, the weight of the cake could cause buttercream ridges, or you could have cake layers that slide on you.
A tall cake is really just a two tiered cake. The top and bottom tiers just happen to be the same size. So if someone is paying you to make a tall cake, make sure to charge accordingly. It’s not really ‘one’ cake, it’s basically two in one.
Ok, let’s talk about options for making tall cakes:
First Option for Making a Tall Cake:
The first option is to use three layers of cake for the bottom tier and three layers for the top tier. Between the tiers, you’ll need a slightly smaller cake board and dowels for support in the bottom tier.
Second Option for Making a Tall Cake:
The second option is to use two layers of cake for the bottom tier and two layers for the top tier. You’ll add the slightly smaller cake board in between the cake tiers and the dowels in the bottom tier. This option will give you a shorter cake than the first option.
Third Option for Making a Tall Cake:
This is the option that I chose. I used three cake layers on the bottom tier and two on the top tier with a cake board in the center and dowels in the bottom tier. I went with this option because four layers of cake didn’t seem tall enough for me, but six layers of cake was looking way too tall for a 6″ round cake.
Ok, so now you’ve got some options to think about. Let’s get to actually building the cake.
Making the Tall Cake:
Don’t forget, if you’d rather watch the video rather than read all the steps, just scroll on down close to the bottom of the post to catch the video.
First you want to make sure you’ve leveled your cake layers. You definitely want them to be as level as possible, to prevent any accidents or them moving around on you later.
Take your large foam core cake base and cover it with fanci foil, or whatever your favorite method of covering a cake board is. If you want to see more options and all my cake board tips, you can see those here: Tips for Cake Boards
Now, set your cake base on your turn table and add some melted white candy melts to the middle. This will help you attach the bottom cake board, so it doesn’t move around.
Now you want to add a cake board to the cake base. You need to make sure the cake board is the same size as your cake layers. I used 6 inch cake layers and a 6 inch cake board here. Make sure to let it set up a bit, so it’s good and sturdy. You can even pop it in the fridge for a few minutes if you want.
I like to go ahead and add just a bit of the melted candy melts to that board so the bottom layer of cake is stuck well onto the board. Some people like to use buttercream for this, but that just hasn’t worked well for me.
Then go ahead and add the first cake layer.
Add buttercream and your other cake layers until you get the bottom tier as tall as you need it. (Remember, don’t go higher than three tiers.)
Pop another cake board on top and use your level to make sure the bottom tier is mostly level. If it’s not, just push down on the board a bit to level it out.
Once it’s mostly level, take that cake board off the top and add some buttercream.
Now take one of the plastic dowels, insert it into the cake tier and then mark the top with an edible marker. If you’d like to use wooden dowels, feel free to do that. You could also use bubble tea straws as well. Just make sure they are heavy plastic and not the flimsy straws. Regular straws will not do the trick.
Once you’ve marked the dowel, twist it while pulling it out of the cake. You’ll need to cut your other dowels the same height. I cut all my dowels the same height and then insert them because I find this gives me a more level cake, rather than just cutting the dowels while they’re inside the bottom cake tier.
I used 4 dowels for the 6 inch round cake.
Now insert the dowels into the bottom tier. Leave the very middle space empty though because you’ll need to add in a center dowel later.
Now you’ll need to grab a cake board the same size as your cake layers, however you’ll need to trim it down a bit…maybe about a half inch trimmed off around it.
You need this board to be a bit smaller, so it doesn’t stick out when you ice the entire thing.
Now just pop your trimmed cake board on top of your bottom tier.
Now use your mini level to check it. Make adjustments if it’s off.
Add a bit of melted white candy melts so the next layer of cake sticks to the board. Some people like to use buttercream for this, but I like using the candy melts because it seems sturdier.
Now just add on your cake layers to the height you want. (Remember, don’t go over three.) I added only two layers for this top tier, since the cake was getting super tall.
Now, make sure the cake is level and adjust if necessary.
Now you need to measure the height of your cake so you can cut your center dowel. You want to include the height of your foam core cake base because the dowel needs to go all the way through that as well (not just through the cake).
Yes, I know I’m very scientific using my hand to measure. 😉
It’s also okay if the center dowel is slightly shorter…you just don’t want it taller than the cake.
Now cut your dowel and then sharpen one end of it. Then just wash it off.
Now just push it (or hammer it) through the whole cake (even the board in the middle) and down into the cake base. Go all the way down into the bottom of the cake base.
Use the cut off dowel piece to help hammer it all the way through.
Yes I’m using a meat mallet…I couldn’t find my hammer. Hey, it works, right?
Alright, now I like to chill the cake, just for a bit, so it’ll be sturdy when I trim it. So, just pop the cake in the fridge for maybe 15 – 20 minutes or so.
After it’s chilled a bit, you’ll want to add a cake board to the top of your cake, just to check and see how much you’ll need to trim. You don’t want any cake peaking out when you go to smooth the buttercream later.
Just use the bottom and top of the cake board plus your buttercream smoother to check which parts of the cake will need to be trimmed. This may make more sense when you get to the video.
Now just trim around the cake. You’ll be using the top and bottom cake board as a guide when smoothing your buttercream, so any cake that is sticking out past those or any where near there, will need to be trimmed off.
You may not have to trim as much as I did…I tend to trim a lot off because I like a lot of buttercream and I just don’t want to take any chances that any of the cake will show through. Technically, you could probably use a larger cake board, but since I was making 6″ round cakes, 7″ cake boards are hard to find in my area. But trimming works too.
Once it’s trimmed up, add buttercream to the top and level it out.
Now you’ll want to take another cake board (the same size of the cake layers you baked and the same size as your bottom cake board) and add some wax paper to it.
I just trace around the cake board onto the wax paper and cut out the circle. Stick the circle of wax paper onto the cake board with a bit of buttercream. (This top piece is going to be your icing guide.) This will make it easy to get a sharp icing edge.
Pop it onto the top of the cake.
Use your mini level to level the top and you’ll also want the make sure the sides are level as well.
At this point, you can re-chill your cake for another 10-15 minutes or so to firm it up. (Don’t leave it in the fridge too terribly long because it’ll dry it out.)
Alright, once it’s chilled just a bit, it’s time to add your buttercream. Just start by adding it all with a large icing spatula.
One it’s all added, start smoothing it with your buttercream smoother.
Add more buttercream to any holes you see and then smooth again. You may need to do this process a couple times.
To get the watercolor look, add more white buttercream on the top and pink on the bottom.
Now use your buttercream smoother to smooth around it.
Once you get it as smooth as you’d like. Pop it in the fridge for about 10 -15 minutes so the buttercream firms up a bit.
Now take your smaller icing spatula, dunk it in very hot water, dry it off and insert it around the bottom of the cardboard round on top of the cake. You’ll need to do this a little at a time, heating your spatula with the water and drying it off. You want to slowly loosen that top cake board.
Once it’s loose enough, just pop it off and make sure you get the wax paper off as well.
Now you’ll need to smooth the top. You can do this one of two ways. If you’ve used a buttercream that has shortening in it (a crusting buttercream) you can use the Viva paper towel method. Just set the paper towel down over the top and just smooth the top out with your hand very lightly.
If your buttercream is made from butter, you can use the hot spatula method. Just dip your icing spatula in really hot water, dry it off and then use it to smooth over the top of your cake.
With either method, just make sure not to go out to the edge of the cake, or this could mess up your sharp edge.
Now just make sure to clean off your cake base.
Now you can add the cake topper of your choice, or you can even add some pretty gumpaste flowers. I decided just to add one of my large gumpaste roses. You can catch that tutorial here: How to Make a Large Gumpaste Rose
To cut this cake, you’ll cut it like it’s two tiers. Just dig into the top tier first, then take the cake board off and cut and serve the bottom tier.
Alright…there you have it! Now you’ve made a impressive tall cake!
Video for Making a Tall Cake:
Ok, just let me know if you’ve got any questions. You can always leave me a comment below.
Don’t forget to pin it below!
Sue Boyles
How does the buttercream react when you remove the cardboard cake circle between layers for slicing? Does it stick to the cake circle very much?
Kara Jane
Yes, sometimes it does stick. It’s weird because sometimes a lot sticks and sometimes just a few areas stick. If you slide an icing spatula under the board all the way around it before pulling it off, you’ll get less buttercream sticking to it. It’s still worth the chance though because if you do a cake that’s really tall, it’s better to have the support in it or the cake could collapse. You could always have a little extra buttercream handy when you go to cut it though and then just spread on a little extra.
Laura
What type of cake pans do you use? Do you use the 6in springform pans or just regular 6in cake pans? Please leave a link if possible!
Kara Jane
Hi Laura, I like to use just the regular cake pans (not springform pans) that are 2 inches deep. I use either Wilton pans or Magic Line Pans. I prefer the magic line pans. They really bake very evenly, but Wilton pans also work and I use them as well. I’ve put some links here. They are affiliate links. Here’s the link to the Wilton pans: https://amzn.to/342Gybl And here’s my link for the magic line pans: https://amzn.to/343BT8Z
I hope this helps and let me know if you have any more questions!
kim pook
Hi, i just wondered if making a 3 layer cake do i need to dowel? The layers are made in 9inch round tins and about 2 inches thick each.
Kara Jane
Hi Kim, No a three layer cake will be fine without dowels or boards between the layers. I do three layer cakes all the time and it should be just fine.
Kate
Hello – this is fantastic and also how kind you are answering everyone’s questions! I hope you might be able to help with mine – I need to feed 50-60 at my wedding next month. I’ve got a 9″ pan or a 12″ pan. I think a 9″ tall cake will be prettier – my question is how many tiers of how many layers would you recommend to feed that many? Maybe 3 x 3 layers? And am I correct in thinking that as long as the third tier (of three layers) was dowelled and boarded carefully in the same way, it *should* be stable?
The alternative is to use my 12″ pan but I think it will just look like a HUGE cake rather than a tall elegant cake!!
Thanks so much if you’re able to respond!
Kara Jane
Hi Kate, So I might need to clarify some things first before I give my answer. If you’re in the UK, I think your cake pans or tins are a little different than ours in the US. Maybe not? Anyway ours are generally only 2 or 3 inches deep…that’s about standard for us. I think in the UK pans (or tins) can be much deeper? So, I’m not sure if I’ve understood your question fully, but I’ll try my best.
I’ll explain what might work based on the pans I use and then just feel free to ask me questions if you have any and I’ll do my best to help. I took a look at the Wilton serving chart and I think that 2 (9 inch round) tiers, which would be 3 (2 inch deep) layers for each tier, would be enough to serve 50-60 people. So, if you have 9 inch round pans that are 2 inches deep, then you’d bake three layers for each tier. You’d stack three layers on the bottom, add dowels and the middle board, then the other three layers. You’d essentially get two tiers of cake, but they’d just be the same size, so when you iced the entire thing, it would just be one large, tall cake. It might be close to 12 inches tall when you finish adding all the filling and icing. It’ll be a large cake and you’ll just cut it like it’s two tiers. It may not give you the look of a tall slender cake though because it’ll be 9 inches around. You can get a piece of paper or grab your 9 inch round pans and set them on the counter and then hold a ruler up to it and sort of measure how tall it will be. That might give you an idea of the size of it and then you can determine if you want to move forward with that size. Now, if you do move forward with it, I would still use a center dowel in it especially if you’ll be transporting it.
One other thing to note, you could also do a traditional tiered wedding cake with a 10 inch round cake tier on the bottom (with 3 cake layers that are about 2 inches thick each) and then do an 8 inch round cake tier on top with three layers as well. That would give you the same amount of servings, but it would be a different look.
Ok, well I hope this helped a little and let me know if you have anymore questions!
Kate Williams
This is perfect – thanks so much Kara! I will definitely use a central dowel even though I’m not going to be transporting it – we’re doing a cheapie wedding at home (I’m 50 with teenagers ;-).
I d o have one last question (sorry!) The Wilton chart (thanks for the tip) says 5 cups of batter per single layer of a 9″ round tin. As you know we Brits don’t really do cups so I’m wondering if there’s any chance you could let me know how many eggs you’d use to make the 5 cups of batter you’d need for each layer?
And in *theory* if I did another tier (with an additional cake card and more dowels) do you think I’d be okay? Bit worried that I might not have quite enough cake what with the teens and their mates! That would definitely give me the tall cake proportions too.
Again, this is so appreciated!
Kara Jane
I totally understand the ‘at home’ wedding…I’d do the same thing. 🙂
I have to say that I don’t go by the Wilton chart when it comes cups of batter for different pans. I just use their serving charts. When I bake my cakes, I normally just go by how many recipes I’ll need to mix up for the pans I have. So generally, one cake recipe will make enough batter for 2, 8 inch round pans (2 inches high). That’s about the standard here. Of course you’ll want to look at whatever recipe you choose and see if that’s what they call for, but we’ll just go with the usual for my example here.
So if I’m baking 2, 9 inch round cake layers, then I’d probably mix up a recipe and a half and that would be plenty of batter for 2, 9 inch round pans (that are 2 inches deep).
Basically, I don’t count the cups of batter. Maybe that works for some people, but it just gets too complicated for me. I mean first off, you’d have to know how many cups of batter a recipe makes in order to figure out how many recipes to make to get that many cups to fill your pans. It’s just easier for me to say, ok this cake recipe makes enough for 2, 8″ round pans, so if I’m baking it in larger pans then I’ll just either mix up a recipe and a half, or just double it. I hope that makes sense.
Ok, for your other question…theoretically adding another tier of cake (I’m guessing another three layers?) would be fine as long as you dowel properly. It’s just like any other tiered cake…it just happens to be all the same sized tiers. It would be really tall though and I don’t know if you’d be able to get a tall enough dowel to all the way through it, but you might be able to find one. You’d really want to be careful with a cake that tall though because one bump to the table might topple it over. Another option would be to just do the two tiered cake plus another extra cake that you just keep in the kitchen somewhere…like a half sheet cake or something and then use that if you need extra. Teenagers don’t care about eating something fancy…I know from experience. 😉
Kate Williams
That is an excellent idea! Thanks so much from East London – I will post the pics if it all goes according to plan. It’s a December wedding so I’m thinking a (semi-naked?) minimal column cake with meringue frosting, maybe with a hint of cardaomom/orange, decorated with woody herbs, halved fresh fresh figs and dark winter fruit. I will post pics if it all goes according to plan!
Kara Jane
That sounds amazing…the flavors and the decorations. I’m so excited to see how it turns out! If you can’t post a pic here, you can send it to me on my facebook page, or just email it to me. (My email address is on my ‘About Me’ page.) I hope everything goes perfectly for your wedding day! 🙂
Dee
Hi Kara Jane
I have 2 questions.
#1 is it possible to make a 4 layer using 6inch x 2inch pans and not need dowels?
#2 IF i need to use dowels and a cake board for support, is it possible to put wax paper on the cake board separating the layers so as to not mess up the top frosting of the lower layers when i remove the cake board when cutting & serving the cake? Just as you added waxpaper to the top cake board then removed it when you were done frosting, is it possible to do the same for an inner layer (just remove the wax paper before serving?) Id rather not have to walk with extra buttercream to the event.
Kara Jane
Hi Dee, it’s possible to make a four layer cake without dowels, depending on how heavy the cake is. If it’s a heavier cake, then you could get some settling which could cause icing ridges around the cake and perhaps cause some stability problems. I like to use a board between because it helps make the cake sturdier and cutting super tall cake slices can get messy…the slices are tall and they just don’t fit on the small dessert plates. By splitting it up into two tiers, the cake will essentially serve more people. You can of course do it without dowels, but it just might not be as stable.
You can place wax paper onto the first tier and then the cake board if you’d like. Just let whoever is cutting the cake know that they’ll need to remove the wax paper before cutting that bottom tier. I would also add a bit of buttercream to the top of that wax paper though, so that the cake board will have something to stick to. I hope this helps!
Nen
Hi
How thick are your cake layers for this cake?
Kara Jane
Each cake layer was almost 2 inches high. I baked them in 2 inch deep pans.
Candy
Hi! Want to ask transport tips for this double barrel cake or say, a 5 layer barrel Shaped cake?
Kara Jane
The main thing is to make sure that if it’s a tall cake you’ll want to use a center dowel. It will keep it from toppling over. Make sure to put the cake on a flat surface…not the seat of the car and you can chill it for a bit before you travel with it. That can help firm it up a bit. I’ve got a bunch more tips for transporting cakes if you’re interested. You can see that post here: https://iscreamforbuttercream.com/transport-cake/
Teresa Lambert
How on earth do you get away with not crumb coating first? You have skills – What size cake pans, 6 inch?
Kara Jane
Awe thanks! lol! I do sometimes crumb coat if it’s super crumbly like a chocolate cake, but most of the time I don’t. Yes this one was a 6″ round cake. 🙂
Bibi
Thanks for the tutorial
Tara
What brand is your cake leveler? Thanks!
Kara Jane
Tara, I use the Wilton leveler.
Zak
Hey, is the centre cake board foam?
Kara Jane
Zak, for this cake, I just used a regular cardboard cake round as the center board. You can use foamcore if you want, but I generally just use the foamcore boards for the heavier cakes or one that is covered in fondant. The cardboard cake round is easier to use on the tall cakes because you can trim it down a bit, so it doesn’t stick out past the cake and form a ridge around it.
Alex
Love this! What size cake pans have you used how deep?
Would 6” 3” deep work to make a tall cake?
Kara Jane
Thanks! Yes that could work. I used 6″ round pans that were 2″ deep for this one.
Sandrabee
I was wondering for a 4inch cake how would I ice it? Would I have to do the double barrel method if it’s 6 layers high?do I need a stick or dowel in the middle to hold it from falling?
Kara Jane
For a 4″ round cake that is 6 layers high, I would definitely use a center dowel through it. It will be very slender and tall and could easily fall over depending on how thick your cake layers are. Some people don’t use the middle board, but if it’s six layers of cake, I personally would use it for the stability, plus it makes it easier to cut into later.
Sandrabee
May I use a thick boba straw?
Kara Jane
Yes, you can use those as long as they are the super sturdy ones.
Sakshi
Hi
I want to do a cake that is 6 inch tall and 4 inch in diameter.
Will i need dowels and board to support that?
Kara Jane
I don’t think so. That would be a small cake that probably wouldn’t weigh that much. You could probably get away with doing three layers of cake in which case you wouldn’t need a board between the layers or support dowels. Now, if the cake feels really tall when you’ve put it together and it feels like it could topple over when transporting it, you may think about just using a center down that is pushed through the entire cake in the middle…all the way through the bottom board to help it not fall over.
Anna
Hi Kara,
great tutorial! I was wondering how do you know where to insert the wooden dowel? It looked like you just eyeballed and put it through? I’d be afraid to not get it right and not be able to get it through the hole of the cake boards below.
Kara Jane
Hi Anna, do you mean the long middle dowel? Yes I normally just eye-ball it. If the bottom of your dowel is sharpened, it’ll be okay even if you don’t have a hole in the middle of the board…you should be able to just push the dowel right through with just a bit of force. You might have to hammer it a bit to go down into your very bottom cake board, but that’s what I do.