I'm attempting my first topsy turvy cake. I need a dense cake to keep this three tier topsy turvy from actually falling. Due to a lack in time I bought Philsbury cake mixes...is there anything I can do to these cake mixes to make these cakes dense enough to hold up but still moist? I noticed a durable cake mix recipe but that is for Duncan Hines and I doubt it would be the same for Philsbury. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks

I made a topsy turvy with a WASC and had no problems. How topsy is it going to be?

WASC all the way!! Mine always turn out super moist! If you don't like almond extract substitute it for vanailla or butter extract etc. And if your cake is chocolate I would definitely leave out the almond! Here is the recipe!
(it uses box mix as a base)

http://cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2322-White-Almond-Sour-Cream-Cake-WASC.html

I use the durable cake recipe all the time with Betty Crocker and it's fine. It's moist and dense and tastes great. Duncan Hines is probably what the original poster of the recipe uses. I've never done a topsey turvy cake but I use this recipe all the time for stacked cakes.

I actually had issue with my WASC (choc. DH version). I carved into the top of each cake so the bottom of the one above was sitting flat and I carved the sides to give them the tapered effect. When I put fondant on, the weight of the fondant was too much for the carved cake.

Since then, some really helpful CCers suggested that I add 4oz melted choc. to the WASC recipes for added strength and make sure I chill the carved cake well before covering with fondant. Haven't tried it yet, but the advice came from some of this sites all-stars so I'm sure it is accurate.

I've personally found Pillsbury to be a softer cake even with the WASC so I definitely recommend following the above advice. HTH.