What is the difference between tall and double barrel cakes?
A tall cake is usually just a cake whose height has been extended. Usually, by adding one more layer. So, instead of a two-layer cake, you now have a three-layer cake. While a double barrel cake is two or three cakes stacked one on top of the other. It can be about 8 to 10 inches tall. So simply speaking, a tall cake is an extended height cake, while a double barrel is an extended tier cake.
Standard cakes
Most cakes are usually 2 layers of cake with a cake board on the bottom.The layers can each be 2 inches or 3 inches tall.So there can be two layers making one 4 to 6 inches tall cake. These do not need any additional support as long as they are on a good cake circle/board.
Tall cakes
As a general rule, I love when my cakes are tall. And while my cake orders are often regular 4-inch cakes, I tend to deliver 5 or 6-inch layer cakes. And yet, tall cakes are so much prettier!! Don’t you think?
The top tier is a standard cake – 4 inches tall.The middle is a double barrel cake – about 10 inches tall.The bottom is a tall cake – about 6 inches tall.
It is a 6-inch cake with three layers of cake each 2-inches in height.Usually, you can stack the three layers on a single cake board/circle as shown below.Such a 6 or 7-inch cake does not necessarily need any support dowel inside the cake. They can still hold their weight as long as they have a good cake board below. One that does not flex!!
Double-barrel cakes
This is again a 6-inch tall cake with three layers.But, if you split each layer into more layers you will need to dowel and add another cake circle in between. Why?So the bottom cake layers do not buckle under the weight of the top layers.The more layers you add the more your structure becomes weak. Hence, the more support you need.Also, more layers mean more movement. Hence even a center dowel is sometimes necessary so the layers stay stacked evenly.
This would be one cake inside your double-barrel cake – can you imagine adding 4 more layers to this without any support? Nah, it would buckle under the weight, and move around with the frosting.
The top two layers are standard – 2 x 2 layers with three fillings = 5-inch tall.The bottom tier, however, is 3 x 2-inch cakes with 2 layers of fillings = 6 inches tall (almost 7-inch tall cake).
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