Hey there 
I'm brand new to this site and to be honest the only cakes I have ever made before are the packet varieties....in light of this, I still plan to make my own 21st birthday cake.
I'm planning on having a chocolate mud cake with chocolate flavoured icing and some sort of middle filling. I need to feed 70 people with the cake and I want to make it either 2-3 tiers. I've been told that square or right angle cakes are easier to cut and distribute so I've decided I'll do square tiers.
My problem is...I have no idea what size pans to use? How many people the cake recipe will feed and what type of filling to put with a almost completely chocolate cake?
Does anyone have any ideas? or wisdom they can share with me? Plus whats the difference between ganache, MMF and regular icing?
Thanks in advance! 
Welcome, and I will give you what I can.
Go to www.wilton.com and enter 'serving guide' into search, and you should be able to find a chart that tells how many serving per cake.
I always like choc. with choc or strawberry with choc.
Go to recipe section and check out ganache and Buttercream for Decorators. MMF has a tutorial on the home page.
Someone will come along and make things more clear. Good Luck! 
Here are a few sites that have serving sizes on them that you can go by for a guide...
http://www.wilton.com/cake/cakeprep/baking/times/party_2inch.cfm
http://www.earlenescakes.com/ckserchart.htm
There are a lot great ideas for filling on this site - you could do a mousse or a ganache - which is a chocalate and cream mixture - see the recipes section or you can search the forums for info on the ganache. MMF is a covering for a cake that you roll out and then apply over buttercream icing. See the tutorial on this site about it.
HTH! Good luck
Thanks so much for those sites guys! Finally something that explains it in plain english.
Just another question? What toping is the preferred toping for special occassion cakes? I don't think i want the hard and thick icing (not sure what its called 
) that I frequently see on wedding cakes but I do want something that looks classy and tastes great.
Any suggestions?!
Happy Birthday to You!
Hmmm...don't have my cake chart handy but I'm thinking if you did a 12" square (double layer) with a 8" square (double layer) on top that would give you more than enough cake. Another idea would be to do an 11 x 15 rectangular on bottom with the 8" square on top. Actually, my quick reference guides says that a double layer 11 x 15 should serve 60-70 people by itself. (Someone may need to verify this.)
Ganache is an icing that is poured over the cake. MMF would have to be rolled out and placed over the cake. (usually over buttercream) Buttercream is applied using a spatula. So you've got 3 different icings that are applied to the cake in 3 different ways. Not sure how hard ganache is to use but I'd say buttercream is going to be easier to apply than MMF.
Do you know how you want to decorate the cake? A very simple cake to decorate is one in my album with chocolate buttercream, drizzled chocolate on the sides and chocolate dipped strawberries. It is always a big hit and honestly, a pretty easy cake to decorate. Just click on my photos to see what I'm talking about and PM me if you decide to try it and need some help.
Believe me I could use all the help I can get!
I'm having a luau themed party so I'm thinking of decorating it with sea shells and piped "coral" of the sides of the tiers. Also, my friends gonna show me how to make plumerias/ frangipani's for the top. I don't know how I'm gonna go making all of that It's quite daunting. I was thinking of doing the three layers and keeping the top tier for a family celebration etc etc. Not sure yet.
Too many decisions thats what I think! LoL. Which toping do you think would be the easiest for me to do? (being a beginner and trying not to sacrifice on taste at all)
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