I'm a newbie . I'd like to know what cakes work best if I need to make a cake stand vertical , like incase I'm making a house cake or a purse cake.

Is it ok to use a cake mix for that cake? if yes which 1 wud u suggest.

Incase I need to make a cake from scratch which one's shud I make ?

TIA.

I like the WASC (white almond sour cream) cake. It's in the recipes. It starts with a mix, but then you add to it. It makes a very sturdy, tasty cake. I'm not sure on the scratch recipe. I know that if you are really going to carve the heck out of your cake, pound cake is a good choice.

I just made a house using the Wilton house pan. It was 3 houses thick, all torted and filled. The cake I used was the caramel version of WASC. It was plenty sturdy and stood up perfectly overnight and for the 40 plus miles it traveled the next day. I did dowel the bejeebers out of it, though. I kept picturing all the layers separating and the whole thing slooowwwly falling apart, but no worries.

I just made a small purse cake with a square pan. I cut the cake into thirds and stacked them. It's similar to any other stacked cake. The bigger issue for me was the handle for the purse.

Thanks CakeMommy3 for ur advise. I will definitely try using the recipe for WASC Cake.

Thanks Cheatize for sharing ur experience on making the House cake & Purse. I do not have a cake pan & prefer carving the cake myself.I was trying to c if I cud get a glimpse of ur purse & House cake but I guess u haven't uploaded any pics.If you do so in the future please pm me.I'd love to c them.

I have never tried making a WASC Cake & noticed that there are many recipe's available on CC .Could y'all plez share a link of the recipe's u both used.

TIA .I really appreciate all ur help.

I like Betty Crocker pound cake mix for cakes that are stacked and carved. It has a great taste and fine texture without adding anything extra to the mix. It holds up well for transporting too, but I do put in supprts for anything vertical. I'm a hobbyist cake maker, although I've done cakes for actual money! This pound cake never disappoints.

No, I haven't uploaded any pictures yet. I'm still too intimidated by all the wonderful work on here.
I've attached pictures of the purse cake and the house cake for you. The house cake had cream cheese frosting underneath it and it was hot and humid so everything kept sliding on me. My husband assures me it wasn't crooked like it looks in the picture- I asked him while there was still time to go back and adjust it.
The purse cake fondant is definitely a little crooked. It was mostly for practice and since it was once again hot and humid, I didn't mess with it to fix it. Think I can talk hubby into central air? LOL

cheatize - Ur cakes look really cute & nice .You shud upload them on ur profile. Tx for sharing them with me.

You're welcome. I'm sure I'll get around to posting pictures some day.

I like to use the extender recipe with a cake mix.......works for me

madgeowens - are u referring to the extender recipe with cake mix by lilscakes on CC ,if not please fw me a link to the recipe u use.

TIA

I am not sure who has it...its the one that you follow the cake box recipe and then in addition you add a cup of flour a cup of sugar 8oz sour cream a third tsp of salt and a tsp of vanilla and an extra egg

If I'm getting you correctly, you want to stand the cakes on their edge, like slices pasted together? I wouldn't recommend that. There is probably a way to design your cake out of layers - usually the better way. It is more stable.

I stood cake on edge to make my watermelon with no problem whatever

I'm not saying it won't work, but you are pushing things to their limit. The stability of a cake is best when it is flat. Frosting is basically a greasy lubricant. When your frosting seams are vertical rather than horizontal, you are encouraging the cakes to slide against each other - gravity is working against you. When you stack in layers, gravity helps hold the layers together. Both methods can and have worked. But, if you have your cake on edge, gravity is no longer your friend.

Well of course it is less stable on its side but there are certain times this is needed, and as I said, I did this for my watermelon cake, and had NO problems.

madgeowens - the watermelon cake is beautiful. Really nice work. But you and I have both seen a ton of cakes that have collapsed. The watermelon cake could just as easily be made with stacked layers. Also, it is almost impossible to dowel a cake that has "walls" of cake rather than layers.

So, this advice was for a new person. If they can start out thinking of all cakes as layers, it will go a long way to help the stability of the cake. If you've got a method that works, great! But we don't know what icing this person will be using, or fondant, etc. The same cake made with vertical pieces is inherently unstable. All cakes can be made with layers. If you have any concerns for a cake that could shift apart, this is the way to go.

I have no idea I am a novice myself, and I have just stated what I did, so I guess according to all that I was lucky