First of all SOO glad I found this forum!

I want to make a topsy turvy cake similar to the photo attached for my son's 1st birthday. But the problem is the party is for only about 50 people so it would be a waste and hard to make such a large cake. So I'm thinking of making one tier a REAL cake and the rest out of dummy cakes. So this way I get the look without having to make/waste so much of cake.

My question is...
Which sizes do you think are used in this cake?
Which tier should I aim at making as the real cake? Top or Bottom? Which would provide a stable base?
Say I make the bottom one as real, should I add support for the dummy cakes above it? Or can I just glue the other triers and just place them on top of the base?
How many round cakes should I bake to achieve the thickness of the base cake?

I'm thinking of buying the dummy cakes through amazon since I have some gift cards but if a better price can found on another site I would love a recommendation.

Thats all I can think of, this would be my first tiered cake so any advice is greatly appreciated.

First of all, I've never made a topsy-turvy cake so keep that in mind.

I would do the bottom tier with real cake due to the weight. A 12 inch is 56 servings, then you could do the dummies at 10 and 8. That is an adorable cake and I like the straight sides - - the slanted ones would be more difficult to work with, I would think.

You'll want minimal support for the two dummy tiers, but you won't need much - - a couple of straws at most.

I would do 2 regular layers and 1 to carve the slant. I imagine someone who's done these will really be able to help you more. Good luck and be sure and post pics.

This looks like a 10", 8" and 6". So, if you want to use these sizes I would make the 10" AND 8" real cake to feed 50.

I have made a Topst Turvey from all cake before. I agree with making the real cake the base layer due the weight. The cake sizes should follow the 2 inch rule for stacking so 12, 10, 8.

The only recommendation would be to cover the full dummy even the bottom (or support with cake bases) that way the Styrofoam is not exposed to the real cake.

Thanks for the helpful responses! I`m hoping to make it a bit larger since I want it to be standing out.

Maybe 15", 13", 11"?

How many layers do I need for it get the height. 3? So I bake 3 separate cakes and cut out the top layer?

Alright now a question about what kind of cake to bake? Im a store bought cake-mix gal....Since we'll have other sweet treats and another vanilla cake for the kids Im hoping to make a coffee flavor cake as the adults would like that.

I see many prefer to use the WASC method cake for tiers, would it be ok for carving as well? Any good strong coffee tasting recipes?

Also I heard freezing the cake helps....how long before the party can I make/freeze a cake and when should I take it out to decorate for the party? The party on Sunday May 13. I wont be able to work on the cake at all on the day of the party, would leaving it decorated just in the party be ok for the whole day?

For the flavor - - since you want a strong coffee flavor, I'd flavor the bc instead of the cake. You could probably get a mild coffee flavor in the cake if you use coffee instead of water, but it's not going to be very strong. You could also use coffee flavoring. Are there any coffee/mocha mixes out there?

WASC is very good for carving so it should work fine.

Make as many of the decorations as far ahead as possible and let them dry. Depending on how fast you work, you can bake and freeze the cake a week ahead of time and decorate the day before. Just be sure to double wrap the cooled cake before freezing. Let it thaw still wrapped, then you can fill and crumb coat it. I would pop it in the fridge to chill and put the fondant on while it's still cold. You can leave it out once it's decorated.

Is it nessasery to caver the topsy turvy cake with fondant?

ANo. I have made a topsy turvy cake with just buttercream.