I am making a cherry pie cake. Using cherry pie filling... Layers from top to bottom will be:
Modeling chocolate basket weave "crust"
Cherry pie filling w/whole cherries showing through the crust
chocolate buttercream
triple chocolate cake
*cherry pie filling
Chocolate buttercream
triple chocolate cake

My question is, should I use just the gel stuff in the middle layer or include the whole cherries?

Sometimes with whole fruits like that the layers can be uneven and if you stack them and use dowels it can cause them to be uneven as well. I have never used whole cherries in a filling before but maybe you could put the filling in a processor to break them up a bit?

Thanks divinecc, I'm not concerned about structure at all b/c it is just a simple single layer mock food cake. I think I will just save the whole cherries for the top.

If you're doing something like this, http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1924462, I'd run the pie filling for the filling between layers through a food processor first because the cherries might make your top layer uneven. You could also mix the pie fill with your buttercream for the filling. I'd be worried that the pie fill sitting on the buttercream might make your top layer slide on the buttercream when you go to cut it. Good Luck and HTH. Looking forward to seeing your photo.

I'm cheating, as this is a freebie, and baked the cake in a pie plate. I'm going to torte, and stack it back in the plate. Thanks! I'll post a photo here when I finish.

Thanks for the help. I just used the gel for the middle filling and saved the whole cherries for the top. It was a bit messy to serve out of the pie plate, but it tasted delish! I really like the way the modeling chocolate lattice work turned out.
http://media.cakecentral.com/gallery/717699/normal_1298062561.JPG

That is super cute