My friend wants to surprise her boyfriend for his birthday (8-10-11) and graduation (8-12-11) with a party on Saturday (8-13-11). Here's the problem: She want to make him a large 3D strawberry cake with a graduation cap on top. I was going to use the following pan sizes: 10x3, 9x2, and 8x2. Since I have never done this before I need to know if this sound right. I know the cake will have to be carved into a round strawberry shape which will take away from the size. Does anyone have any suggestions, or have any instructions or a tutorial on how to do this cake? Any assistance that my fellow CC'ers can offer will be greatly appreciated.

Oh, BTW, she was originally supposed to be doing this cake, Not ME

I did a strawberry.. you can check my photos but it was only 3 8 inch cakes stacked.
(it was strawberry shortcakes house)

I just stacked an carved a little at a time.

Just make sure you have good supports in it.

I know this was probably not helpful at all lol.

But I usually just jump in

At first, I thought it'd produce a squatty strawberry. I pulled out the pans to check it out. I did the imaginary carving to round the top and sides of the strawberry. Those sizes will give you enough to trim it to a nice strawberry shape (and if you somehow goof, enough to make it right again...maybe a smaller strawberry than initially intended...).

The only suggestion I have is to fill, crumb coat (I do crumb coat before carving...after trimming the ledges off though...), and freeze before carving. Having the image of the strawberry shape nearby when carving begins would also be helpful.

Thanks to you both for your help. I will definitely follow your instructions. Looks like a long night for me with having to bake the layers, cooling time, making the strawberry buttercream, and strawberry filling. Decorating will definitely have to take place tomorrow.

And mplaidgirl2, you were very helpful.

Thanks again,
Crystal