If all this, while you were wondering about, that a tiered cake, is much of a hustle-bustle, then you probably need to check this tier cake recipe out. While you can try to bake a double tier cake even using the same ingredients and following the steps, this below recipe is suggested for an easy 3 tiered cake. So, without further ado, let’s begin to discuss in detail what all is needed and how to exactly go by to prepare an edible masterpiece like a scrumptious tier cake. 

Ingredients 

  • 3 Baking Pans ( 10 inches for the base, 8 inches for middle-tier and 6 inches for the top tier)
  • Cake boards of 12, 8 and 6 inches respectively
  • 12-18 cups of buttercream
  • 7 wooden dowel rods

For Each Vanilla Cake Layer

*Note – For each of the 3 tiers, you need to bake two layers of vanilla cake, which makes 6 layers of dry chocolate cake.

  • 2 cups of batter per layer (so for the top tier you will need 4 cups of batter)
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup cocoa
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups whole milk (or 3/4 cup heavy cream mixed with 1/2 cup water)

chocolate batter for tier cake

How To Prepare Each Layer Of The 3 Chocolate Tier Cake

  • Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a bowl. 
  • Then beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy and further add eggs to the batter. 
  • Then beat vanilla and flour mixture in 3 batches. 
  • Butter the cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Furthermore, butter the parchment and dust the pans with flour. 
  • Bake until the cakes are lightly golden for about 30 to 35 minutes. Let the cake cool down in the pan for 5 minutes.
  • Similarly, prepare 6 layers of chocolate cake, 2 each of all the 3 tiers. tier cake layers

Assembling the layers of the tiered cake

  • Start by levelling each of the cake layers by slicing off the top dome of the cake using a cake knife.
  • Take the 12-inch cake board and glue it with a bit of buttercream.
  • Place a 10-inch layer of cake over the 12-inch cake board. We intentionally kept a 2 inches gap between the cake and the cake base just to make it easier for us while transporting the cake.
  • Further, top up the cake with a layer of buttercream and then sandwich it with another layer of 10-inch cake. And that is how you end up stacking up the bottom layer of the tiered cake. 
  • Repeat the above step for each of the other 2 tier chocolate cakes to make the middle and top tier of the cake.
  • Once you have assembled each of the other two-tiers chocolate cake, you can start with the crumb coating of the cake. A crumb coat is the initial layering of the buttercream to catch all the crumbs of the cake that eventually smoothens the cake.
  • Applying it on the sides and the centre of all the cake tiers as if the coating or painting it with buttercream. 

tier cake chocolate filled

Stacking The Tier Cake

  • Take the bottom tier of the cake i.e., the 10 inches cake. Now, to prevent the collapsing of one tier over the other, what you have to do is take three dowels and place it vertically in the centre of the cake, probably forming a triangle.
  • Cut off the excess dowel by marking the top of the cake and then cutting each of the dowels to size, accordingly.
  • After cutting out the excess dowels, put the dowels back in the holes made already. Further, take the 8-inch tier of the cake and try to place it gently over the 10-inch tier.
  • Repeat the stacking of the top tier over the middle tier, similarly as you did for the middle and bottom tiers, respectively. But because the dowels of the middle tier need to go through the cake board of the middle tier, you would need to sharpen the dowel’s tip.
  • Follow the steps, once you have stacked up all the 3 tiers, you shall be left with one wooden dowel, which needs to pass through all the 3 tiers to provide sufficient support while transporting the cake. 
  • But while doing so, you surely don’t want the last dowel to pop out of the top tier. So, what you can do instead is cut an inch or two from the top of the dowel and insert it straight in the centre of the cake.
  • Cover the hole with some leftover buttercream and your 3 tiered cake is all standing tall. 

chocolate tier cake stacking up

So, this is how you can take a regular cake to the next level by baking and treating your loved ones over a homemade tiered cake across birthdays, anniversaries and other such special occasions. To add much more of wow factor, you can decorate your tier cake with some fresh edible flowers, fruits and lots of chocolates.