I always seem to be a lil to one side, never so bad that I think the cake is ruined. I thought my son's cake for his party last wkend was a lil underbaked, wanted a lil more "crust" in the cake for shape and sturdiness.

I have a baby shower cake for this thrusday so I left them in a lil longer (after the inital check in wh/ the center was still wet) and now I have a lil more crust than I would like. I do however like how crisp the top edges look w/ this extra crust and I need a smooth cake for thursday (unlike the b-day cake, it was monsters w/ fur) so maybe it's a good thing

I have them wrapped in the frig and they were a tad warm, just a lil above room temp when I wrapped them so I am hoping between the frig and the buttercream the crust will soften a lil.

I thought about cutting the crust off, but I think that will do more damage then good (as I suck at cutting and I always seem to get crumbs everywhere when frosting as it is)

It sounds like you have an old oven and the temp is off. Have you had that checked recently? Have you tried lowering your temperature? In my home oven, I bake at 325 (when directions say 350).

Do you use baking strips around your pans? Here's a thread that explains the science of how/why these work: http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6626888.html#6626888

I trimmed my cakes' edges all the time, if I didn't want a sharp edge on them. Freeze the cakes. Doesn't have to be overnight ... just long enough to get the cake firm .... then I'd use a sharp paring to zip along the edge to remove the cake I wanted removed. I agree that doing it with a cake right out of the oven, or one that is completely thawed can create a crumb-mess, but the freezing/partially-freezing helps eliminate that.

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edited to correct "home office" to "home oven"

I do have a crappy oven, we are renters and we are not in a super nice apartment, and I have had problems in the past w/ it, so I bet that is a part of the problem.

I'll have to try the freezing for only a lil bit, I have done them over night and I make a mess, so this one I have popped in the frig overnight, but I can get them in the freezer while I make up the filling and then cut then just after I am done making it.

Thanks for the link, I have seen ppl using the bake strips but I have not thought about doing it just yet.

I agree that the oven may be an issue. If you don't already have one, I would get an oven thermometer. I had similar problems and found that:
1. The oven did not get to the specified temp when the indicator said it did--lesson learned to preheat the oven longer
2. The oven did not consistently keep temp when the timer went off (a 325 degree temp would reset to the oven default of 350...but not all the time.--lesson learned to check the setting of the oven each time the buzzer went off and also to keep an eye on the oven thermometer to make sure the oven was "in the zone".

Even when I carve frozen, I get bits of cake everywhere. Last night I was tapering cakes for a topsy turvy and I could not seem to carve the big cakes unless my turntable was at the edge of the counter. I just let the pieces- big and small- fall on the floor. No scraps for cake truffles from those cakes.

Be careful about trusting those oven thermometers you can buy at the store. I just had my oven calibrated yesterday. I did that because I thought it was off. The beeper would go off and say it was 350, but the oven thermometer would say 325 and it would take about another 5 minutes to reach 350. So I thought my oven was off.

No, it was not the oven. It was the thermometer. It turns out it takes them longer to read the temperature that is actually there. So it was actually 350 when the thermometer said 325. The guy has some kind of reader with a sensor that was more accurate. His said 350 while the one in the oven said 325.

Still, it is best to let the oven heat up for at least 10-20 minutes after the beeper or light goes off. This is the advice the guy gave me yesterday, but I always did that anyway. I always let my oven preheat for at least a 1/2 hour before I put anything in.