Am I Ready For....topsy Turvy???
Decorating By shelbur10 Updated 14 Jun 2007 , 10:56pm by bakerchick
Ever since I first saw a topsy turvy cake, I've wanted to try one, but have always been too chicken. I need to make a large cake for a family cookout this weekend, and am thinking about trying one. It's for family, so it doesn't have to be perfect, but I really want to impress, as there will be lots of people there who've never seen my cakes.
I need to decorate and assemble Friday night, then will have to travel with it about 1 1/2 on Saturday afternoon. Is this a bad idea? Can you assemble these on site like you would a regular stacked cake, or will it be okay pre-assembled?
I'm so scared of these, but I just love the look. What do you guys think? Would it be better to do a practice topsy turvy another time and do something in my comfort zone this time?
Great that you want to try!! I am also crazy about them but haven't tried one either (no one asks for it 
).
I think you can do both ways, if you are having enough time I would just make them seperately and stack them overthere (because I know a stacked cake in the car gives a lot of stress between husband and wife 
), and finish the decoration.
If you want to stack it before I would dowel it really well, not forgetting the central dowel through the whole cake and certainly put the airco on in the car.
And also put stable fillings in it!!
I myself am not such a heroe, I would go for the first option 
And yeah I would certainly do this for this event, finally your chance, and don't worry everyone will be very impressed, that's what topsy turvys do even if they are not perfect (in our eyes )
You go girl!! 
And lots of good luck!!
Lara
One thing I've learned with the topsy turvy....make it taaaaall as you can! The bottom tier I wouldn't be so worried about but, You'll loose some of that height when you cut the angle to it and you'll loose a little more height when you've set it in the tier below. I make mine 8'' to be safe. Sometimes even taller.
They're actually not hard to travel with. Because of the way they're stacked, they're pretty sturdy! I like to transport all of my cakes on their cake board and then put them on a thick cutting board for stability...but, just for the drive! I find they don't wobble as much.
I would practice one first because, once you've done one and have a feel for it, it will be so much easier! It's one of those cakes that you'll say "That was it?"
I did my first topsy turvy a week and a half ago. It wasn't as hard as I expected from all that I read prior to trying. I stacked them at the shower and it took a great feal of stress off. I also used only 4 inch layers feared leaving the comfort zone too much at once.
Thanks for all the advice, everyone!
I have kind of chickened out...I decided to do a 'grill' cake for this time, since it's a father's day thing.
But I have a free weekend next weekend, so I'll probably practice a topsy turvy then. I'll be more comfortable if I know I don't have to take it anywhere...just in case!
Hi there - I just did my first stacked wacky cake on the weekend, and only used the containers available to me. The bottom layer is a ceramic salad bowl, the next a big soup mug, then a regular mug and finally an espresso cup.
the salad bowl (bottom cake) is only about 4 to 5" diameter and the cake stacked fine.
what i did was make all the cakes separatly of course, ice and crumb coat as per normal, decorate each individually, and keep them apart, then at the last minute i stacked them. I did not use the traditional supports because the cake is only small. it reached to a heaight of about 14". believe it or not I used a chinese chopstick stright through the middle!!(make sure you position the cakes a little crooked as you go) so you can assemble just before you serve so theres no worries about having to travel with it stcked.
have a look at my photo, it's pretty sturdy- not that I would travel with it like this, but if it's just the look you want for that initial wow factor, then you can take each tier off again to cut and serve!!!
Hope this helps
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