I made a slanted cake for my niece using WASC. I used Duncan Hines pineapple mix and substituted pineapple juice for a cup of water. The cake was delicious, but way too soft. It bulged and the middle tier started to sink despite the support dowels. We had to cut the cake ahead of time 'cause we were afraid it was going to fall. I need to make a topsy turvy cake for my friend's daughter. I know a lot of people suggest using WASC for topsy turvy, but I'm afraid of getting myself into a cake disaster. She is having a big party for her daughter and I don't want to disappoint her. What went wrong with mine? Does Betty Crocker or Pillsbury works better for this recipe? Anybody have a suggestion for a good dense cake I can use? Please, help!

Hi, Sorry to hear about your disaster but the cake looks great!!
Whenever I am baking either a topsy turvey cake or something that needs carving, I use a madeira cake. The recipe is similar to a spong but you add plain (AP flour) as well as self raising. The one I use is - 275g of Self raising flour, 275g of sugar, 275g of butter, 140g of plain flour (AP) and 5 eggs. You can obviously adjust it to the size of cake you need.
Hope that helps. PM me if you need any more help.
Jenny

I took a topsy turvy class and the instructor who is owner of a very popular custom cake shop said she uses pound cake. Gives them the option of vanilla or chocolate pd cake.

You know what else you can do?...you can substitute one of the mixes in the WASC recipe with a pound cake mix. I've done this before using using a betty crocker pound cake mix. It came out nice and firm with a tight crumb and good flavor.

I agree with you though...regular WASC is too soft for carved topsy turvy cakes, although I've done the wedge/tilted style before with regular WASC and it was fine.

Thank you for all your suggestions. I will give the pound cake mix a try.

i just want to comment : that's a GREAT looking cake!