Okay, so I looooooooooooooove baking and decorating cakes, okay?  But sometimes I make really big cakes.  And when I make really big cakes, right when I take them out of the oven, I let them cool in their pan for 10 to 20 minutes.  Once the pan is cool(ish) to the touch, I try to flip the large cake out of the pan, upside down, onto a wire rack.  This is really difficult to do with a large cake.  How do you all manage to flip the cake upside down without ruining it, especially when there is no one around to help you?  So far this is my only big problem.

AI put the wire rack on top of my cake pan then flip the whole thing. Once I take the pan off, I usually take another wire rack put it on that and re-flip it right side up, so when it cools its where I want it to be to torte and trim the top.

I do it the same as didavista. 

ditto.

Agree with all of the above.  You really don't flip it ever.  You gently turn over the pan with the upside down cooling rack on top of the pan.  Turn over the pan and rack held together.

Thank you all for your replies!  It sounds so easy to do when you all are explaining it.  I wonder why it seemed so daunting last night.  Let me try it that way next time :-) !

also when layering the cakes....if they are really big I put the top layer on a cookie sheet (without the lip on the sides) and slide the cake off the sheet and onto to bottom layer of the cake to prevent it from breaking from being picked up. Some people freeze their cakes to do this but I find this method to be quicker since I don't always freeze my cakes. 

ADo you use cooling racks bigger than your cakes? Are cooling racks standard size? Because i can't seem to find wider ones, mine fit 10", a 12" cake will hang a little on the sides :(

Wilton product, 14 1/2 x 20 in. Chrome-Plated Cooling Grid, $10

http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E31510D-475A-BAC0-5C225A06A823BF35&killnav=1

Wilton product, 14 x 20 x 1/4 in. deep Jumbo Aluminum Cookie Sheet, $20

http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E3151C8-475A-BAC0-50B8A42E7D9581E1&killnav=1

I use the 14x20 cookie sheet as a "cake lifter" (as FioreCakes mentioned in post above)

If you don't have a cooling rack large enough - just use a cake board. Put the cake board inside the pan on top of the cake with the cooling rack over the top - or no cooling rack, and flip. The whole cake is supported then - especially when using 3 inch pans, and the top of the cake is down inside the pan a bit.

I also have extra oven racks that Ive used when working with really big cakes.  Put a cardboard under them for extra support, as the oven rack grids are far apart.

AOohhh thanks for the tips!!! I feel like i am taking classes! Hehehe i love learning :)

One important tip no one has mentioned yet.......

Make sure you layer is level with the top of the pan before trying  take it out.  I other words: level the layer in the pan.  If there is a hump your layer will split when it is turned out :(

AI just put a cardboard on top and flip it over. If this is the cardboard you are using under your cake, before to cover it first if that is what you do.

I just leave the big ones in the pans to cool off, or turn them out onto the board they'll be on, so I'm pretty much on the same page as everyone else.