"depth" of cakes - help HIBs please???

I am royally confused about cakes! I was planning to go for plain M&S tiers and plonk on top of each other and self-decorate.

However....I heard that the "depth" of the tiers is not very much, and that they don't really worked plonked on top, and...and....etc etc!

I really don't understand all this - are Waitrose better for "depth" and does it matter?

Any help gratefully received....

I know absolutely nothing about cakes in general... apart from eating them of course! However,  this link may help.

http://www.cheap-wedding-success.co.uk/depth-of-wedding-cake.html

Marks and Spencer cakes are all 5.5cm in depth (from website) and don't know about Waitrose.

Hi

Dont know if this any help, but my friend had m&s cakes. Fruit on bottom, then sponge and then chocolate stacked and this is what it looked like.  The florist then came and decorated it.

To answer your question regarding depth, most professional cake makers like myself make our tiers approx 4 inches in depth which is 10cm.

I think Waitrose are the same as M&S - WR used to do a chocolate cake decorated with white chocolate cigarillos (they may still do it - I have no idea).  The commercially bought cigarillos are 4 inches (10cm) in depth and I make my chocolate cakes the same depth as the cigarillos, their stacked cake effectively has one cake sitting inside the other as the cigarillos are much taller than the cake.

The pic above with the couple cutting their cake shows the cake displayed on a standard size silver cake stand, I have one in the same design as do lots of venues that I deliver to.  There is roughly a 1.5 inch ring around the stand where the base cake board is smaller than the stand.  The bottom tier of a professional cake, standard size/standard cake boards, would fit the top of that stand.

These are the facts, I can't advise you what to do because obviously I'm biased - depends if the depth/size of your cake is important to you.

Catherine

lots of brides on here over the last 3 years have has M&S cakes and been really pleased with them. They do have some of the sizes in store so you could go liik at them.

You'd quite easily get double the depth by going to a cake maker instead of a supermarket as Catherine says.

These days, we're all fighting for orders against the supermarkets, so you could well get a great deal more by going to a proper cake maker.

Don't be afraid to give them a budget that you'd need to work to, and see what they can offer you.

Nothing to lose, but a LOT to gain....

Thanks very much Ladies for your helpful and informative advice - and thanks v.much Becky for taking the trouble to find and post the pic.

Hmm, lots to think about....