Okay so I did another cake today and its my second stacked cake. I know the problem..ok one of the many problems 
is that the bottom layer is too short, but if I make more than one mix we start getting into a lot of cake....I have a family of 6 here and they like cake, but they are getting tired of one every week and I cant really practice a big cake b/c its just practice and dont need to have a cake that feeds 50 sitting on the counter. Anyone else have a problem like this, a solution, anything lol?
I might have to start giving them away 
I started sending them to work with hubby. That eventually led to business ventures. But anyway, I really didn't like having a cake a week at the house. Donate them. Everybody loves free food!!
I started sending them to work with hubby. That eventually led to business ventures. But anyway, I really didn't like having a cake a week at the house. Donate them. Everybody loves free food!!
lol..I got a great giggle out of that..I work for my parents so ...yeah...cake at home...cake at work...no difference lol
Donating to your local fire station is a great idea. My son and I take cookies to our firefighers every holiday. They look forward to it and so do we.
I made two cakes this week for practice (1 6-round and 8 round & 2 8x8 square). The round cake went in the trash (I know that sounds horrible, but it didn't turn out the way I wanted). I delivered the 8x8 to my step-mom's office for her workers to devour.
I was thinking about buying forms, to practice on. That way, I only waste icing. I'm not sure how much they cost, but plan on checking them out the next time I visit the cake shop.
If you don't feel like baking just to practice decorating, you could use cake dummies.
http://www.dallas-foam.com/store/cakedummies.html
Greatest Dummy Cake Store:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-126091-.html
Rounding Corners of Dummies:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-142451-.html
How to Cover Dummies in Fondant:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-137911-.html
HTH
If you still want to bake the cakes, you could use the Cake Mix Extender Recipe from this site. It will make one cake mix into one and a half. Then your pans will be more full and it TASTES AWESOME!!!
You could also freeze the cakes completely frosted and take them out when your family wants some cake. I've done this a million times and they taste GREAT!!
If you dont want to bake and dont want to use the cake dummies, I simply practice on Plastic containers turned upside down, I have a few that are colored so if I use white icing I can really just practice the details I want and I can even re-use the icing for more practice by wiping it up with a spatula! It works out pretty good.
I added some old pictures from 2005, I dont take pics anymore!
Make sure to ask the Fire Dept first. Our Dept. throws anway goodies brought in by people they do not know. (alot at the holidays.) Once they get to know you, bake on!!! The Chief told me the guys need to stay fit so back down on the goodies. As soon as he went back into the office, the guys said, "don't you dare"
I hope you find a sweet treat there too! 
I agree ... send them to hubby's work or the kids school. My 14 yr old asked for green iced cookies to take to school on Friday. The teacher in the class that she passed them out in said if I had any others I wanted them to "sample" that I was more than welcome! Sent in a birthday cake with hubby the same day for a co-worker's birthday. he told me the word circulated that "Phil's wife sent in a cake!" and the 10" 2-layer was gone in 20 minutes.
So if I have spare cakes, I have an immediate outlet that doesn't involve applying it directly to my hips! 
I love sending cakes to my husbands work, only problem last time, no-one wanted to cut the thing and by the time my husband realized it only 1/4 of the cake was gone and it was 3 o'clock. He said next time he will put it in piece 1 hour into the day so it's gone by quitting time!
Also I wish I could send the cakes to school, but in MN you cannot send home baked goods to school everything has to be store bought because of allergies. That includes cookies & everything. I made a cake decorating presentation in my son's preschool I had to buy the cupcakes for the kids to decorate once my presentation was done. I had to purchase pre-made icing. I was able to bag the icing (1 oz per cone so each kid could use their own) It worked out just fine. I just could not stand the icing taste or consistency. At least the cupcakes were ok tasting.
You could use upturned cake tins instead of dummies. Every time someone has a birthday give them a cake as a gift. That way you get practice and don't have to think of presents all the time!
Very true..come to think of it there is a vol. fire dept. right outside my subdivision, I bet they wouldnt mind a sweet treat...might also be a place to find my own sweet treat...oops did i say that outloud?
Oh yeah...I found my sweet treat at a fire station almost 17 years ago! 
I was actually a paramedic and he was a volunteer on another ambulance crew, and cakes weren't part of the equation then...but taking a cake up the your local FD will be quicker than taking a paramedic course, so go for it!!! 
I'm getting to the same point, too. Our house is just me and my DH, and I'm trying to lose weight, but I still want to practice! I give them out to my folks and my in-laws, but there's still a limit to how many cakes they can/want to eat! I've decided that I'm going to start taking them down to the assisted living/nursing home where my grandfather-in-law lives. The old folks love stuff like that, he feels special because he gets to tell everyone that I made him a cake and was thinkin' about him, and there are always so many people there that it gets eaten! Even if you don't have a grandparent or parent in a place like that, I'm sure it would be appreciated greatly! I also have thought about calling local hospitals to see if they would be willing to take donations, but I don't know how they would feel about taking baked goods from strangers...Has anyone else ever tried? I love to make kids' cakes and would love to make a birthday cake for a kid who's stuck in the hospital...
For hospitals and nursing homes, you want to be careful about dietary restrictions. For those who have no restrictions, that is a very nice idea! If they are not permitted to give them to the patients, I'm sure the nursing staff would be very appreciative to have something in their break room!
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