ok, so I've seen lots of cakes that have different flavored tiers, so my question is this... do you use a whole recipe and bake a couple of cakes and have leftovers or is there a way to make a smaller recipe with a mix?
oh and part 2, I don't have a huge supply of cake pans so if I need a few cakes all the same size I tried baking 2 then taking them out and using the pans for the next 2 but the batter didn't hold well, it started rising on it's own and the 2nd batch of cakes didn't come out the same, weird consistency. Has anyone devised a method to hold leftover batter?
yes TrinaH thats my problem! I guess some people have an endless supply of pans, but I sure as heck don't!
sidenote-I spend a FOTUNE everytime I set foot in michaels, this is an expensive hobby!
I don't get the circulars in the mail because there's no Michaels in Brooklyn! 
ladybuglau - if you go to michaels i assume you are traveling to SI. in that case travel a bit further in SI and go to ACMoore. Sign up online for their "newsletter" and coupons. They have been sending me tons of 50% off lately, wk after wk. Being that it's online coupons, michaels won't take them. But if you get them from the newspaper then Michaels will take competitor. from Ragshop, joanns and acmoore. GL.
Sorry i can't answer your original question.
http://www.acmoore.com/showweeklyspecialcoupon.asp?ID=12
coupons for 40-50% off, you have ragshop in bklyn. do you get their coupons? sometimes they have 50% also.
BTW: have you been to Kerekes? (www.bakedeco.com) they are in bklyn.
I have heard that you can put the cake batter in the fridge to slow down the rising agent. The best results are from fresh batter.
Ladybuglau,
You can sign up for Michaels and ACMoore coupons online. They will e-mail you the weekly fliers. I do this and also get the ads in my Sunday paper so I have double the coupons. It helps because I also spend a fortune everytime I step into Michaels. My husband fortunately doesn't know the whole truth about what I spend. OOOOOPS!!! I always let him know that I went there but never what I spent. LOL Can't help out with your question but I wish you success with your cakes. Debby
You don't have to have an actual coupon at my Michaels. All I do is ask "Is this coupon week?" and they say yes....and give me the 40 or 50% off for that week. I just have to sign my name and zip code. Then I don't have to waste paper and ink printing them out 
thanks everyone for the suggestions! I'm going to Kerekes today to check out what they have, oh and would anyone know where I can get a big container of cream of tartar if I can't find it there? I've been looking all over including the manufacturers website and costco and no luck. I use it to make playdought with my class and I use up the small ones too quickly
I try to balance out the batter between the larger and smaller pans. For example, two batches may fill one large pan for the bottom tier and one small pan for the top tier. Of course, it doesn't always work out this way. If I have no choice but to hold batter over, I put it in the fridge.
I have heard if you put it in the fridge it will slow down the rising.
TrinaH-unfortunately, I worked at Michael's and not all store do the write up thing all the time. They are doing that to see who gets the coupons and who doesn't.
I WISH EVERYONE GOT COUPONS ALL THE TIME! 
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