Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8-inch cake pans and three 6-inch round pans with baker's floured cooking spray, or grease and line with parchment rounds.

Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt) in a mixing bowl (or stand mixer with a paddle) until fully combined. Mix chunks of room-temperature butter slowly into the dry mix, on a low speed. Continue to mix until no large chunks of butter remain, and the mixture looks crumbly.

Pour in eggs and mix on low until just incorporated. Mix in the buttermilk in two parts, on a low speed. Add in vanilla and oil, and mix on low until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds.

Once the layers have fully cooled, they can be leveled and any caramelized bits can be trimmed from the sides / top of the cake using a serrated knife if desired. (Be sure the layers are completely cooled or chilled before trimming; if layers are cut while still warm they may crumble or break.)

Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with vanilla and whitener until frosting is even and lightened. Decease beater or mixer speed to low. Add whipping cream if needed for a thinner consistency, and beat until well combined.

Place a smear of frosting on your large cake circle or cake drum (to keep the cake from sliding while you decorate it). Center the first 8-inch cake layer in the center of the circle. Spread the layer with frosting. Add your next cake layer on top, and repeat the process with your remaining 8-inch cake layers.

Next, repeat the same process with your smaller cardboard circle and cake layers. Of note – if your 6-inch circle isn't pre-center-punched, be sure to grab a dowel or straw and knife and make your own hole in the exact center of the circle! This will allow you to center the tier on the base tier later on.

Now you're ready to crumb-coat . If you're unfamiliar with crumb-coating, it's just what it sounds like – spreading a thin layer of frosting over the entire outside of the cake tiers to keep crumbs out of your final layer.

Once your crumb coats have set (this takes about 10-15 minutes in the fridge), add a final layer of frosting to the 6-inch cake tier and smooth. Since I was texturing the frosting, I didn't worry too much about getting the sides perfectly smooth. (For the 6-inch cake, I find trimming the layers just smaller than the cake circle and using the cardboard as a guide for my cake scraper to work well.) Chill in the fridge 10-15 minutes before texturing the frosting.

Gently press the end of a small offset spatula into the frosting - beginning from either the base or the top - and drag the spatula toward the center of the cake tier. Repeat around the tier until the frosting looks

(Basically, doweling a tiered cake is done to ensure that the top tier doesn’t crush the lower tier, as well as keeping it centered. I used four shorter cut-to-height plastic straws for my base tier dowels, and one taller one cut at an angle in the center to hold my top tier in place.)

Grab your ruler for this next part! To center a 6-inch cake on top of an 8-inch cake, push the straws down into the base tier just over one inch from the cake edge, placing them evenly at quarter intervals around the cake. Place your last, tallest straw or dowel into the exact center of the cake, making sure to keep it straight up as you press down.

Now you’re ready – center the hole in the bottom of your top tier cake circle over the tallest dowel and let the top tier gently down onto the base tier. The dowel will poke into the center of the top tier to hold it in place.

Not much left to do! Decorate with food-safe or artificial flowers - (per request) I used two pink roses, a spray of eucalyptus leaves, and small bunches of baby's breath between the top and base tiers. Scroll to the bottom of the post for a few other decorating ideas if you'd like!