Pillars and Plates

• Cake separators, sometimes called cake rounds, may be cardboard or plastic, and they come in various standard sizes. They lend support to fancy layered cakes and prevent the knife from cutting too deeply when the host slices each layer. The knife naturally stops at the bottom of each layer.
  
  Plastic pillars and bubbles raise each tier so that there is empty space between them. Pillars are often fluted for decorative purposes. Bubbles are clear contemporary-styled pillars that rise from the middle of each tier. Both pillars and bubbles must rest on a cake round for stability. Some are part of a kit and interlock with the rounds.
  
  

Shapes

• Cake separators come in a variety of sizes and shapes: round, square, heart-shaped, star-shaped and more. People sometimes combine shapes, positioning them adjacent to each other on a large frosted board to make more elaborate cakes. For example, a small round positioned at the top of a bigger square can make a human head and torso. A bowl cake atop the round cake makes a protruding face.
  
  

Dowels

• If you want to build a tiered cake with cake separators, you will also need 1/4-inch dowels. Dowels lend stability to the cake's architecture. You don't need to worry about unsafe, unsanitary dowels. FDA-approved dowels are available at baking supply stores. Some people use plastic drinking straws instead of dowels, but dowels are sturdier. They're less convenient than straws, however, because you have to pre-cut them with a saw before assembling the cake. You can cut straws with scissors.
  
  

Techniques

• Some professional cake bakers wait until they arrive at the reception site to assemble a big cake. Assemble tiered cakes, one on top of the other with an appropriately sized cake separator between each layer. Insert appropriate length dowels at 2 inch intervals into each tier in a circle before adding the next tier. You will need the dowels to ensure that each layer bears the next. If you're using pillars, mount them on top of each tier on a separator before adding the next. You can cover the separator with frosting. Make sure the dowels are set in from the edge of the next tier up.