Hello bakers,

am doing a surprise cake for a friends house warming party, my idea is to bake a sheet cake as the base and place a house cake [wilton standing house pan] on top.
I have 2 questions here so that I don't mess it up in anyway.
1. for the base I got an aluminum rectangle pan which is 11*15 and 2 inches deep how much cake batter would I need for this pan?
2. What would be the best and proven method to place the standing house on top without it falling or getting toppled?

Also, I would to hear some suggestions on flavors & fillings I can use.
as of now I was thinking of doing a marble pound cake with chocolate mouse filling for the base cake and a chocolate or pound cake for the house.

My hubby really wants me to try the red velvet cake as it looks to fancy but I have never made or tasted one. Also, I have read RV cake dont make good base cakes as they are very delicate. Any inputs?

I would love to try a lemon or pineapple cake but am confused as to what combination would it pair up well with.

This is the 1st time ever I will be doing a stacked cake so am too nervous...ideas/suggestions/recipes all are welcome

Here's a link to the very useful Wilton 2-inch wedding (or any other kind of) cake chart, which tells you how much batter you need, how many servings you can get and how much icing you need to cover several different sizes and shapes of cake pans:
http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-wedding-cake-2-inch-pans.cfm
For the house-shaped pan, the instructions that come with it will probably tell you all this. On how to stack, I'd do it just like any tiered cake: cut a base exactly the size of the bottom of the house to set it on, then exactly underneath where the house will be, put about 4 bubble tea straws(I use regular drinking straws) exactly the height of the tier underneath (your 11" x 15"), then place the house, with its base, carefully on top of that. As far as flavors and kinds of cake, I would stick with more pound-cakey types and leave the red velvet for a more regularly-shaped cake. On the other hand, I'm particularly fond of the combination of lemon and chocolate cakes.

You can try adding water into your pan, cup by cup, counting as you go along. When you get to the level you would normally fill your cake pans (2/3, or whatever), then you will know how many cups of batter it will take to fill it.