How to center a cake topper

• Baking paper or parchment
• A pencil and scissors
• A toothpick
• A clear acrylic disc from your baker, a little wider than the topper's base

1. 1. Wait until the cake is set up

   Add the topper only once the cake stands where it will be served. Chill the cake for at least 30 minutes before you start. A cold cake is firmer, so the topper stays where you put it.

2. 2. Find the middle

   Trace the top tier's pan, or a plate the same size, on parchment and cut out the circle. Fold it in half, then in half again, and open it. Lay it on the tier with the edges lined up. Push a toothpick in where the folds cross.

   A paper circle on the cake, with a toothpick where the folds cross.

3. 3. Find the front

   Turn the cake stand until the smoothest side faces the spot where the photographer will stand. That side is the front.

4. 4. Set the topper on the mark

   Lift the paper off over the toothpick. Pull the toothpick out and center the disc over the small hole, which the disc then hides. Stand the figure in the middle of the disc, faces to the front.

   The figure in the middle of a clear disc.

5. 5. Check it from 2 sides

   Step back and look from the front, then from one side. Photographers often shoot the front of the cake first, then the rest of it.

No circle to trace? Measure across the tier and mark half. Do it again at a right angle. The middle is where the 2 lines cross. For a square tier, fold a paper square corner to corner both ways.

To keep the figure from sliding on its disc, read how to insert a cake topper.

Both faces to the front. This figure stands on its own base, with no disc.

The same figure from the side, on its flat base.

Our figures stand on a flat bottom, with nothing pushed into the cake. If one sits a little off, you can move the disc without a new hole. Our Origami figure, 4 inches (10 cm) tall, weighs about 2 oz (53 g).

Tell your baker or venue which side is the front. Then the faces point there, even when you are not in the room.

Does a cake topper have to be in the middle?

No. It can stand to one side, for example next to flowers. On a cake with a hole in the middle, a small plate can cover the hole. Tell your baker the spot, so they can put a support right under it.

How wide should the topper be for the top tier?

A little narrower than the tier, about ½ inch (1.5 cm) to 1 inch (2.5 cm) narrower. Then it sits inside the edge and looks balanced.