I have been admiring all the wonderful cakes on the site and a question has occurred to me. How do you all get your cakes so tall? I've typically stuck to two 9"pans and then layered them with bc in between and they are only about 4" tall. Any input would be greatly appreciated!!

You could torte your layers so each 9" is cut in half and fill those with the butter cream. Other than that I think you would have to use more layers. I am not sure how much more height you would get. That is all I can think of!!

I like tall cake layers so what I do is fill my pan more than most people do. Depending on what recipe I use (how much it rises) as to how full I fill it. I usually go up to 3/4 full on most.

I do three layers of cake per tier. I fill 2 inch pans up all the way with batter, slice the tops off evenly while still in the pan, so my cakes are usually between 5-6 inches tall...

Pans are also made 3" tall. You can torte each layer, have 3 layers of filling and you would have a cake between 6"-7" depending on how much filling you use and how much you fill the pans.

I agree with mcdonald and summernoelle... fill the pans 2/3 to 3/4 full, and even then, I will sometimes use three layers of cake, if I want it really high...

If you watch Sugarshack's dvds, she uses 3/4" foam core under each tier which will also add height.

I like baking three 8" or 9" cakes and torting them so that you get six layers of cake plus your layers of filling. I think it creates a more dramatic effect. And people are AMAZED when they cut into it and see all those layers. I brought the purple roses cake to work today and more than one person asked if it was a dobash (pronounced DOH bosh and also spelled doberge) cake.

My family and friends are so used to WalMart sheet cakes or simple two layer cakes, that they are surprised to see four or six layers. The exception is with doberge, a popular specialty cake with roots in the the New Orleans area, made popular by the famous Gambino's Bakery. It usually consists of six to eight layers of yellow cake with chocolate custard filling and covered with poured fondant. A popular variation is to fill half the cake with chocolate and the other half with lemon. You pour lemon fondant on one side and chocolate on the other so you know which is which. All chocolate versions are also available.

If you want read more about this wonderful cake, here's a Wikipedia article.

You can also see pictures and pricing on the Gambino's website.

Kim

Oh yes! I haven't made very large scale cakes yet, but when I make a 6" cake...I love, love, LOVE to make it at least 5-6 inches high! Very dramatic and pretty and much more fun to decorate. More room for scroll and piping work!

And I manage that from just 2 pans, filled up pretty high and then smushed down a bit right after they come out of the oven. So I get two layers from each pan, with the filling, comes out to right about 5-6 inches high!

Kim...I was just looking at your Flickr pics, and those cupcakes with the green and yellow frosting made me hungry for....GUACAMOLE! Ole!

Si! And don't forget the frozen mango margaritas!

I bake 2 cakes and slice each in half. I use 3 of the cake halves with layers of filling and the 4th one gets used as for my dame (I mix BC in with cake scraps for a nice stiff dam - I learned about it here at CC several months ago).

They are still 4" high, though. With all 4 halves it would be 6" high, but most of my cakes are for kids' birthdays -- those small, themed cake plates wouldn't accomodate a 6" tall slice of cake.