I think I have the gist of the carving down, pretty much just cut the road into the side and then remove the chunk by cutting downward...

But how much larger do you bake your cakes to make sure there is enough?

I have to bake one today to feed 30 guests and was planning on doing it topsy style, two-tiers: an 8"9"10" bottom tier and a 7"8"9" top tier.

I'm just worried that cutting out the road won't leave enough.

Any words of wisdom out there?

Funny, I never get answers to serving size questions...

I know it's a lame question, I just wondered if anyone with experience carving a "road of life" cake had any tips.

I'll just bake way more than enough, I suppose.

wish i could offer you help but i honestly havent a clue, And if youve got a bit left over, im sure the kids will help you 'dispose' of it lmao x hope you get your answer x

It's funny, it doesn't seem that hard to do until you are staring at your cake pans and trying to figure out how to make a spiral road without making an oval-shaped cake...

I wish I had styrofoam to play with. OH! I'll break out the kids Play Doh!

Lmao Sounds like a plan, ive never done a cake as big as that so i really couldnt help! but i know just what you mean, i did a tackle box over the weekend, it needed to be rectangle but all i had was square, so hat to sit for half an hour working out where i would carve and -restack the sides and everything lol
Im sre it will be good though, cant you get some styrofoam from somewhere?

I have never done this kind of cake but jsmith has a cute cake that she has carved like the "road of life" cakes and I would guess that she used a 8 inch and 12 inch cake and then carved the cakes down to a 6inch and 10 inch. Here's a link to her picture. Maybe you could pm her.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=660033

Thanks! I love jsmith...

I just realized how to do it: You have to use the size round you plan on using as the serving cake, then trace it on top of a bigger round.... Oh, blahblahblah....