I tried making a layered cake for the first time a few weeks ago and I noticed that when I started to apply my mousse and curd layers, the cake began to crack. Even worse, the top layer ended up breaking when I tried to place it on the finished layers. Can anyone help me out? I want to make more layered cakes, but I would like them to stay intact

Its sounds as though the layers aren't completely level. When I use a filling that is fluffy or gooey, I always use a buttercream dam. I make the buttercream thicker by adding more powdered sugar, and pipe around the perimeter on the cake before filling it. It will help things from oozing out, and it will make your cake more stable. But first things first, make sure your layers are level, for small cakes the small Wilton leveler will do the job just fine

Most decorators freeze their layers even for a little while, even up to several months. This makes them more moist and easier to handle. Of course thaw them until cold and you will be able to handle them better. hth Someone just had a thread about handling cold cakes a little while ago. look that up under new posts.

You mentioned that this is your first layer cake. You may just have a bad recipe. So many novice bakers think they can't bake and it's the recipe. I would suggest that you post the flavor that you want and we can give you some stable recipes to try.

Try working with a very cold cake!

Wow! Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll definitely try freezing the cake longer to see if it will help as well as leveling it more.
My family enjoys chocolate cakes so it would be awesome if someone could suggest a more stable chocolate layered cake recipe like scp1127 mentioned?