I am new to the cake making thing. this is my first attempt at carving a cake. I need a recipe for a chocolate cake that is dense enough to carve but tastes good for kids. from what i have found in my searching either a pound cake or a wasc cake. but when i search for either of these i get a million choices. so i guess i need help narrowing the field. please help!

If you look at the WASC recipe by kakeladi, at the bottom it will tell you what other flavors to add. I have found that her recipe is the absolute best for carving (but I am still new at this). You can substitute chocolate cake mix for the white cake mix and go from there. Good luck.

let me just add this....as much as i'd like to try a WASC recipe, there are always too many variations and i am just too new at this. i need something a bit simpler. with kakeladi's recipe, some of the responses said they didnt think it was good to use for stacking or carving. also with that recipe the flavorings at the end get confusing. i'm not really sure how much of that to add and with something like that, can you replace almond extrct with vanilla?

Yes. I most always use the vanilla extract because my kids don't like the taste of the almond.

If you go into recipes here on this site look up 3d cake for carving and wedding. I use it all the time and people love it. It's a doctored up mix.

I'm having a hard time finding this recipe that you're referring to. Would you mind posting it for me? I'd really appreciate it!
THANKS!

Oh and I'd love to know how it worked for you

Try the "Darn Good Chocolate Cake" recipe here on CC. The cake is absolutely delicious and is very dense but moist. I use chocolate milk as my "wet" to add some more chocolate flavor. The chocolate chips can be omitted without having a major affect on the taste. Some people love the extra chocolate surprises and others think it's too much. I've carved with this recipe before and had great results. Good luck!