Week 13 :: Topsy Turvy Cake

When I started out this year I never thought I was going to love cakes this much!  But the hours of hard work and (many) failures are worth it when you make a finished product that is JUST what you wanted!  I love a challenge--so when a friend had a special request birthday cake, I got to work and created this chocolate-flavored-black-and-pink-hip-hop-and-music-themed-sweet-16-cake!  (More pics at bottom of post)

The whole process starts days before...3 days before the event I baked the cakes and froze them....THIS IS SO HELPFUL!  I baked three of each tier....chocolate, strawberry, then chocolate again!  When you freeze them you can just brush off the crumbs, fill them, and dirty ice (crumb coat) them and they are ready to go!  Here's a peak inside my freezer....

Don't stack them as they will flatten out and freeze.  The next day of so when you are ready to decorate, take them out, trim them as you please and crumb coat.  If you are making a topsy turvy cake, you just stack the first two layers normally, and then cut the third layer of each tier at a diagonal BEFORE you cut a hole in the middle.  Use the second tier's cake board as a template to cut out the hole.  This way the second tier sits flat, and reduces the risk for catastrophe (sinking, shifting, etc.)...if you want to know more...here is a great video of how to make a topsy turvy cake.


If you need extra tips refer to Week 9 :: Christy's Cake.  This week I used all recipes I have used before, except a from-scratch strawberry cake recipe is below:


Strawberry Cake
All recipes
::Ingredients::

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 (3 ounce) package strawberry gelatin
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup strawberry puree made from frozen sweetened strawberries

::Directions::

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour (2) 9" cake pans.
2. Cream together butter, sugar, and gelatin.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  
3. Combine flour and baking powder and add to butter mixture alternating with milk.
4. Blend in vanilla and strawberry puree.  
5. Pour into prepared pans.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean.