I have to make a bottle cake and I need a good recipe for a cake that won't fall apart when I carve it. Any ideas?

Not sure what flavor of cake you need but I used this recipe from CC which is chocolate that I found to be a great carving cake hth

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/17277/hersheys-perfect-chocolate-cake

I actually need a marble cake so this is good for half the cake. Any ideas for the vanilla half? I was thinking about a pound cake do you think that would be good?

An extra egg to any recipe will make it a bit denser. I make all mine from a box and add an extra egg if I want to carve it. Carve your cakes frozen with a very sharp knife.

I always heard "pound cakes" are perfect for carving.
Sorry I do not have a recipe for you.