I have my first cake request... a small stack of presents in pink and purple. For Christmas. Don't ask about the colors... that's what she wants. Lol.

Anyway, I have the image in my head of three presents stacked with ribbons. What is the best way to go about that?

I'm limited as far as pan sizes since I'm still newbie to all of this. I have 9 inch rounds, a 10 inch round, a 9x13, and 8 inch square. I know I'll have to do some carving to get three different sizes.

She wants a white cake with the bottom/biggest 'present' having some kind of creamy filling. Any suggestions on recipes?

And I imagine that most of the decorations will be fondant? Does anyone have a good recipe that isn't MMF ? I've tried that and it didn't turn out right. I couldn't get the correct consistency no matter how hard I tried. It kept tearing...

Oh, and it's only for about 6 people or so, maybe a few more. Not more than 10. So it doesn't have to be huge.

So, yeah, any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Based on your questions, it sounds like you are very new to cake decorating. Three stacked presents that feeds 6 to 10?? That's like a 2x2 petit four on top of a 4x4 on top of a 6x6...and the smaller the cakes, the harder they are to do. Personally, I would laugh at someone who made this request.

Sorry, I know that wasn't much help...but the parameters of this order are kind of ridiculous. You might find out if she is open to a square cake, say 8" x 8", decorated as a present with a pretty bow and small gift boxes made of fondant in her chosen colors also with pretty little bows. That's what I would do...or else charge her no less than $100 for the stacked present cake in the sizes I suggested above just for the headache of dealing with tiny cakes.

Well... yeah, I am very new. But she saw one of my other cakes and liked it and asked if I could make one for her. It's something new that I haven't tried before and I figured an excuse to try something new is good. Especially since it'll be something new that my boyfriend and I won't be eating ourselves.

I tell you, trying to loose a bit of weight while trying to learn cake decorating doesn't work so well if I'm keeping the cakes at home... hm... lol.

I agree with you, PandaBear1, about requests like this being learning experiences. You might ask your customer whether she would mind if the cake were to serve more than the 6-10 she requested (one of my favorite things in life is finding leftover cake in the fridge when I come down to breakfast in the morning ...but that may be too much information). You could make three eight-inch cakes (1 layer, torted into two) and cut one down to 6" and one to 4". Present cakes are some of my favorite, although I haven't made too many of them. I must say that I've pretty much given up on making my own fondant. I buy FondX - the only kind I can find where I live, but it's very good - and I fix it up by adding 2 tsps. of CMC and 2 tsps. of meringue powder to each kilo (well, each 2.2 pounds). I only do this because where I live it's hot and very humid; you may not need to do anything but cover the cake directly. Best of luck and send us a pic!

So this is'nt an actual business deal, just a cake you want to do for practice and fun right?
That changes alot, and I totally understand where you are coming from. You and your family can only eat so much cake and eventually you have to branch out and give some of your creations away.
For sizes you don't have to do graduating tiers, they can all be the same size and off set, like this
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1294313
These cakes are different sizes but the design will work with 3- 6" or 4", the 6" would be easier to decorate.
The stcking is super easy and impressive, if you want to try it and need help just shoot me a message and I'll help you out.

As for the creamy filling you could go with a cream pie filling, which can easily be turned into chocolate cream , coconut, banana you name it, or just plain vanilla.
I have the best recipe from the Joy of Cooking, I use it as a base for all my cream fillings.

Just remember to make a nice thick dam when filling with anything other then buttercream.
I even do a dam for ganache, but I'm paranoid.

I have heard good things about Michele Fosters Fondant, never tried it but the recipe is here on CC
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/7446/michele-fosters-fondant

In the future if you plan on selling your cakes make sure you have an order minimum so you can avoid doing cakes for very little servings.

Thank you, Marianna and CakeMommy! This is helpful. I will try to Michele Foster's Fondant, that sounds like something I could make. And just trimming down a couple of the 8in squares sounds like it could work. I don't think she'll mind a bit of left overs. Hopefully. Lol.

Thanks again and I'll ask more questions as I have them!

Question: With the MFF recipe, how does it taste with the glycerin in it? It just sounds so odd to put glycerin in food...

Glycerin is sweet. It is a commonly used preservative and sweetener in the food industry.

Really? Hm... interesting. I guess you learn something new every day.