I would like to try a topsy turvy cake - the kind that have the tapered sides and the hole cut out of each layer for the next tier to sit level.

Everywhere I've read, they say to use a dense cake for this. The only recipe suggestions I've seen are for doctored cake mixes, but I only bake from scratch. Can anyone suggest a recipe (or recipes - I'd love to make each tier a different flavor, if possible!) that would work well?

I've seen people say that pound cakes are good for this. I'm nervous to bake a pound cake that's not in a loaf or bundt pan, since many of these recipes are formulated specifically for these pans. Has anyone had good luck baking pound cake in layers? And if so, would you mind sharing your recipe?

Thank you!

I just use my regular recipes.

Remember, the advice you have read is given by people that use box mixes... chemically engineered cake that is unnaturally soft, wet, and fluffy. So they have to find cake recipes that are more like scratch cakes.

So if you are a scratch baker, you should be fine!

Thanks, FromScratch! I'm a huge fan of yours (and your SMBC recipe/method) so I really appreciate your input. I'm still playing around with recipes, so I don't have many "go-to" recipes. Do you think the white cake recipe you have posted on your blog would work well? Also, when you do topsy turvy, how far do you taper the tiers? I've read a lot that do 2", but I'm wondering if I should just do 1" to be on the safe side.

Thanks for your help!

I've only done a few, but it depends on the design you are going for. If you are really worried about stability, ganache your cake!

And yes, it should carve just fine. If you think it's too soft just stick it in the fridge and get the cake cold again.