I have a bride who thinks she want this cake.

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/article/a-different-stripe

Has anybody done one? It has no icing , so I'm thinking it must be brushed with simple syrup to keep it from drying out, right?
How would you do these very thin layers?? I'm just really not "feeling" this cake...

Thanks for your help!

If you scroll down toward the bottom of the page showing the cakes and click on the coconut pound cake it takes you to the recipe and how it is accomplished. I hope this helps you with figuring it all out and good luck.
evelyn

That's a very cool looking cake but, wow, there is absolutely nothing to distract from even the slightest imperfection.

My thoughts, exactly !
And even if, by some miracle, it looked like this when finished, the sliced pieces would not - at least mine would not...and being such thin layers, I think they would not hold together. Just say no, really!

I wonder if the cake in the photo is really cake, or just a display.

Not only that, the outside slices would be so stale by the time it was served. UGH!

Oh my goodness gracious! Yeppers, I would pass on this one using the "I am not confident making that" card hehe. Brides are tough enough an animal to scare me away from ever doing wedding cakes. I don't know if I would want to meet the bride that wants this for her cake! Whew! Then again, my very own Husband HATES cheese on his burgers, cardinal sin #2 for me hehe! And I suppose I like him just a little! =P OK, maybe a lot.

Let us know how it turns out either way!

Yep, no thanks for me!

I really appreciate knowing I'm not the only one who thinks this is NOT a good idea!

I don't think it would be that hard to get even layers, but you would need to use a cake leveler to do it. But agree with the others on why you would want to, the cake is bound to be dry as dust by the time it came to eating it. It is one time in your life you can justify going for something more grand in terms of decoration, why not go for it? This cake just look like it would be a elegant cake for a Sunday buffet, or for a baby shower.

sometimes I just hate Martha don't you? lol It's a very beautiful cake........I read through the directions and it appears that the whole cake is coated in a curd! so that WOULD keep it from drying out but I can't even envision doing a cake like this......I would definitely have no problem telling a bride NO WAY unless you just make it worth your while and quote her like $25/serv. or something!

If you decide to do it, you should remind the bride that the cake shown in this pic is very likely a display cake, and that a real, fresh cake will probably look very different. Also, as others have said, explain how dry this cake would be. That alone should help her to change her mind.

Maybe you could offer her an iced alternative, like stacking individually colored fondant covered layers to achieve the same visual effect.

Good luck!

I don't think that this cake is unreasonable. It says on martha's site that there is curd in between each layer which would definetly help with the dryness. Also, simple syrup on each layer would also do the same. As long as you aren't making the cake more than 8-10 hours ahead of time, this shouldn't be a big problem. If necessary, and if time allows, I wouldn't say no right away, try it out first, and cut into it at different time intervals to see how dry it actually is, and maybe what you can do to fix it. My motto is...try something new...you may surprise yourself.

She's choosing a different design .

Thanks everybody for your replies and opinions.
CC is the best!

Technically I do cakes like this all the time, but their smaller and called petite fours.

The way to perfect the height of each layer is to bake a thicker cake and use the agby (I hope I got that right) cake leveler. It's a wonderful tool, although not cheap....but I use it so much it's a great investment. I torte full sheet cake sized cakes out of any flavor, even carrot cake and this leveler cuts perfectly.

Then you stack all your perfect height layers together and at last you cut off your edges (do this while the cake is cold). That exposes your perfect layers. It takes so practice to cut perfectly vertical edges, but if you use a template and your careful it can be done. AND it is easier to do then frosting a cake.