I need any advice for how to bake/shape/carve this cake. I just got an order for a huge centerpiece cake with this cake in the middle. It looks easy, but the finsihed product will be big. SInce it's my first try at it, would like to get the advice of other decorator so I don't waste precious time! Thanks for any ideas!

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The picture is a little small, so I'm having trouble deciphering what it really is. Is it a purse? Luggage?

I've never made a purse cake before, but there is a tutorial here in the Article section of CC. Maybe it can help you!

http://www.cakecentral.com/article64-How-To-Make-a-Purse-Cake.html

HTH

Depends on what you consider "BIG". I would bake sheet cakes and stack them, using dowels and boards for every 2 or 3 layers of cake, carve and then cover with fondant. I would only tort with frosting, but not a lot since the fondant will put a lot of weight on the cake.

If you are making the large base that it will be on, definitely need to dowel/board the bag/backpack on the top like you would any tiered cake. It looks fairly easy and straight-forward though.

Elisa Strauss has a backack cake in her new "Confetti Cakes for Kids" book with directions. It's super cute. I like her books but some feel there is not enough "cake" in them.

It's not a backpack, but maybe you can get some ideas from this tutorial:
http://www.cakedalaska.com/Caked_Alaska/Welcoming_William.html

HTH,
Deanna