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Trade 03

Sugar & Structure

Section 03 of eight. Dowels, boards and what holds a tier up. Four entries: dowels and boards, ganache or buttercream, sugar flowers and the warm room.

A baker dowelling a cake tier level
Fig. 01Dowels are cut level after they are driven, not before; a millimetre out reads as a lean by the top tier.Photo: Yulia Oliinychenko / Pexels

Entries

4 in this trade
  • Overhead view of a frosted cupcake on a wooden board surrounded by piping bags and sprinkles

    Dowels and boards

    A tiered cake is a load-bearing structure. Each tier sits on a board carried by dowels driven into the tier below.

    Entry 3.1 · A full entry
  • A hand uses a small palette knife to add buttercream flowers along a cake's grassy green border

    Ganache or buttercream

    One sets firm and holds an edge in heat; the other does not. The room temperature decides.

    Entry 3.2 · A full entry
  • White sugar flowers and green leaves decorating the top of a frosted cake

    Sugar flowers

    Made weeks ahead because they need to dry, and stored away from any humidity.

    Entry 3.3 · A short entry
  • White glaze dripping down the rounded top of a loaf cake

    The warm room

    The commonest failure, and it is always the venue rather than the cake.

    Entry 3.4 · A short entry

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