Anniversary Cake

In April for our Pastor and his family as they celebrated 30 years with our church and a friend asked if I could help do a cake for them.  Sure, why not, haven't done one in a while. After looking over a few cake designs, I remembered a certain design I had seen in one of my Wilton Cake decorating books that would be perfect.  This cake design incorporated a variety of photos into the design.  My husband put the photos together and prepared the photo strips to put on the tailored tiers. 
 
If I remember correctly, I did a 6 inch, 10 inch and a 14 inch for the three tiers.  Honestly, I can't remember what flavor the 14 inch one was, but I do remember the other two.  I used a different chocolate cake mix that my usual and I was not at all happy with the results! 

I wanted to keep the design clean looking so that photos would stand out. I iced the cake in buttercream,  then used a diamond impression mat on the sides to dress it up a bit. I finished it by piping a reverse shell border on the top with a tradition shell border on the bottom of each tier.  My friend did the cake topper with silk flowers and sea shells (it was a beach themed reception) giving it the final touch that it needed. 
I was terrified that it was going to fall over because the tailored tiers are not easy to secure well.  I assembled it the night before since I wouldn't have time in the morning.  Thankfully It made it through the night and the luncheon, with out any problem, whew!   Now I know why the tailored tier set was on clearance and now discontinued, probably not the best product for a large cake, since you can't put a dowel down the middle of it to secure it well.