This might be a silly question, but I need some opinions. I am making 6-tier wedding cake. Each tier will have two 2" layers - one colored Teal and one colored Purple. I am trying to decide whether I need to torte these layers. It will be filled and frosted with vanilla Buttercream, so there is no fruit filling. Are there any guidelines regarding when you are supposed to torte a layer and when you don't need to?

There are no rules. And you can certainly get away without torting. I don't for birthday or other cakes.

However, i think wedding cakes look nicer with thinner layers - about an inch max. Many people do more torting! Some do 1/4 inch.

If you think of your slice of cake as a business card that gets handed out to 100 people, what do you want it to look like? Picture the cake sliced at the wedding and make it that way.

There is no right answer.

Hi, I normaly torte my cakes three times. So it is - Cake/Filling/Cake/Filling/Cake.

Since you are going to do 6 tiers and each cake has two layers, I would just put the filling between the two layers. It will be - Cake/filling/Cake.

Hope it make sence.

Thanks. My main concern was the color combination. The cake style is modern - the frosting will be white, but the bride wants the cake layers to be teal and purple (to match their favorite sports team). I was afraid it would look too striped or whimsical. Using colored cake layers is a new effect for me. If you had to work with this color combination, would you stack the teal layer on top of the purple layer or would you alternate colors?

This sounds like a really fun cake! For a contemporary looking cake, I think the blocky look is better than numerous thin layers. Also, with bold colors, you might get a little smearing at the cut side of the cake while icing multiple thin layers .... so I'd definitely go with just the two layers per tier with filling inbetweeen... thick enough filling to be clearly seen as a white stripe between the two thicker colored layers.

I'd put the dark layer (purple) on the bottom for each layer. Our eyes see darker as heavier, and heavier goes to the bottom. The other way around would look upside down.

All just my opinion - you need to do what you think looks best and what the bride wants.

Sometimes I sketch things out with colored pencils to do a visual comparison of options before I actually go to work... it helps me "get my mind around things."

Wow! I'm sure many, many people will think this is a fun idea. I have to admit the very idea of colored layers (beyond lemon yellow, raspberry pink, chocolate brown, etc.) makes me cringe. I understand the bride wants to make a statement with her colors, but will people really want to eat teal and purple cake? Probably I'm a tiny minority, but I wouldn't make a cake like this and if the bride was adamant, I'd happily lose this sale.

If I were doing chocolate and vanilla layers, I'd torte and alternate the layers, chocolate, vanilla, chocolate vanilla. I suppose that follows here as well.

Thanks, I've made my decision...when sliced, I wanted the cake to remind the couple of their sports team, not a cartoon. Since the cake will be all squares, the block look will carry on that layout. I was leaning towards putting the purple on the bottom. Oh, and the cake will have purple and teal embelishments - a purple ribbon around each square and teal intertwined hearts above, so the "purple on the bottom" will be repeated. Thanks again. I really appreciate you folks helping me make a decision...this is only my 15th wedding cake, so I'm still pretty new to the biz.

Interestingly enough, this couple paid for a tasting party for 8. The vote was 7 to 1 in favor of the bold colors. This particular family and circle of friends are hard-core fans. I'll post pix when it's all over.