I am making my daughter's wedding cake and this is my first. What chocolate cake receipe is the best to use? I have tried my receipe that I always use and I don't think it's strong enough to hold up or should that be a concern. I'm using a lb cake and carrot cake receipe for the other layers. I plan on stacking cakes and using dowels.

A tried and true receipe from one of the many experts would be great!

Try this one........I think you'll like it.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Double-Chocolate-Layer-Cake-101275

Hi and Welcome to CC, dmarie97.

Decoding CC acronyms:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-2926-.html

Everything you need to know to bake, assemble and decorate tiered/stacked/layer cakes:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-605188-.html

You should be able to use any recipe that yields a cake which can support the weight of buttercream and/or fondant frosting.

The cake layers/tiers at the bottom don't support the weight of the cake layers/tiers above them - that's the job of your cake support system.

No one has expressed the concept as clearly as Indydebi...

Taken from this "best cake recipe for tiered cake???" thread:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-622384-whip.html

The above everything thread has link to illustrated common cake support systems with complete directions. Leahs also has posted on SPS. Here's a sticky by leahs on SPS:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-603925.html

HTH

Here is a great recipe Read thru the whole recipe before you start. Note the extra info at the end. Enjoy your baking!

The *original* WASC cake recipe by kakeladi

1 box cake mix (I prefer Betty Crocker) *see notes at end
1 cup flour*
1 cup granulated sugar
generous dash of salt

1 cup sour cream*
1 cup water *
3 whole eggs
1 tablespoon flavoring*
In bowl mix together dry ingredients. It's helpful if you use a wire whisk, but optional. It's important w/choco cake not so much for other flavors.
In mixer bowl place next 3 ingredients. Add about 1/2 of the dry ingredients and blend together, then add the rest of the dry ingredients & blend. Mix for 2 minutes. Some tell me they just dump all ingredients into the bowl together. Some tell me they sift all dry ingredients together.
Pour into prepared pans * and bake as usual.

*NOTES:**any cake flavor can be used**. Match the flavoring to the cake flavor such use lemon for lemon cake; strawberry/almond for a strawberry cake etc, etc. Flavoring is rather personal - if you don't like almond leave it out and increase the vanilla etc. For most flavors you can use a mixture of vanilla, butter, and almond which is what I do most of the time.
You can use milk, cream, fz juice concentrate (ie:lemonade) or coffee for the liquid to go w/the cake flavor.
This recipe is based on mixing in a kitchenaid mixer. I use position #1 to stir it, then #4 to mix the batter.
Most of the time I forget to add the salt
On rare occasions I have used other brands of mix.
This makes the amount of batter as if you used 1 1/2 mixes and is perfect for a 10" sq OR 9x13 OR one 8" & two 6" round;OR two 8"rounds OR a 12" round; and other combinations of pans.
I prefer to bake at 300 degrees for about 20-30 minutes (depending on size of cake) then turn oven up to 325 for about an equal time. If cake has pulled away from sides it is overbaked. After cooling, the top might be a bit sticky.
Some people have told me they use plain yogurt instead of sour cream.
I've always used all purpose flour. Some tell me they use cake flour but then the amount is less - maybe 3/4 cup - not sure.
Zest (grated fruit peel) can be added w/the dry ingredients.

The flavoring I most often use is this mixture:
1 part vanilla extract
1/2 part butter flavoring
1/4 part almond flavoring

A "Part" is any measure be it teaspoon; tablespoon; cup or quart Smile Since I made many wedding cakes I usually mixed it up by the cup about once a month