I am preparing my first cake for my class tomorrow. I used my cake leveler to trim the tops of my cakes, but the amount I had to trim was pretty much equal to half of the cake. Did I do something wrong? Any suggestions on what to do with this "extra" cake? It's way too much to pitch. Should I ice it and serve it to my family? Man, we're gonna gain so much weight...
There are a couple of ways people limit the amount of "hump" they need to cut off the cake:
1. Use bake-even strips, which insulate the pan sides and result in less mounding in the center.
2. Bake at 325 instead of 350, which results in better rising at the edges, and less mounding in the center.
3. When the cake comes out of the oven (while still in the pan, put a clean towel over the cake, and put a flat cookie sheet over the cake, and press down to flatten out the hump. This works if the hump isn't too big, and makes the cake a little denser in the middle. (yum) You'll probably want to weight the sheet down for a minute or two, to set the cake after flattening.
4. For larger cakes, use a baking core or inverted flower nail to even out baking.
In this case, obviously, you can't do any of those, because the cake is already baked/cooled/leveled, but for next time, you might want to try one or more.
As far as the "extra" cake--you could make cake balls or a cake trifle. Cake scraps freeze nicely, if you want to save up enough to make a good sized batch of cake balls or trifle.
RedPanda
Heatherly,
That's a lot of cake to trim off 
Using bake even strips and lowering your oven temp to 325 degrees F might help prevent excessive humping of your cake layers.
(Addition of baking cores or inverted flower nails in larger/deeper cakes also helps.)
How to level cake:
http://www.wilton.com/cake/cakeprep/leveling.cfm
Thread on level cake layers:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-33939-.html
What to do with cake scraps:
http://www.cakecentral.com/article67-How-To-Make-Cake-Balls.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2099-1-Cake-Balls.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2382-0-Cake-Balls.html
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-53197-.html
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-53670-.html
HTH
Edited to add: Well said redpanda 
Thanks RedPanda! If I bake at 325, I guess it will need to be baked a little longer, correct?
Cake balls...I'll have to research that one. Sounds good!
I appreciate your response!
JanH,
Thanks for the links...that'll keep me busy reading for a while! Hope my short, little cake doesn't get laughed at in class...
Heatherly;
Yes, if you reduce baking temperature, baking time will go up a bit. (maybe 5-10 minutes, possibly more for larger cakes).
Jan, I am always amazed at how many and (how quickly) links and resources you can find. (and my coworkers call me the Google Queen!)
RedPanda
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