I am wanting to carve a cake for my son's birthday and need to find a cake recipe that will be dense enough to withstand carving and covering in fondant (assuming I can get everything to work, hehe). I have never really worked with fondant or carved cakes. The one cake in my photos was carved a little but I know that the recipe we used isn't going to be dense enough. Any suggestions? I'm looking for preferably a white or yellow type cake for this cake. I know I have seen people talk about using pound cake, but I was looking for other alternatives.

I am also doing an M&M cake (inspired by the Duff cake and several other on this site) for my oldest son's birthday and need a good chocolate cake recipe for the 6" round M&M that will be on top , because you can't have an M&M and it not be chocolate in my opinion.

Thanks

Well, i was going to suggest a pound cake, LOL. Do you prefer box or scratch? The WASC recipe on here should hold up well for carving and fondant, and there's a chocolate version too. Otherwise, for scratch, I like the Classic White Cake II from the recipe section. And my favorite chocolate is the one from the back of the Hershey's can!!

I use Colette Peter's white cake recipe from her Cakes to Dream On book. It is super easy and SOOOOOO delicious, especially for a white cake. I call it a pound, vanilla, butter cake blend. I also love it for carving!!!

it is in her books or here is a link to the food network http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_2957,00.html?rsrc=search
I will say the food network cake has about 1 ounce extra of each flour compared to her recipe in her book. I have made them both and cannot really tell the difference. enjoy

Have you thought about using madeira cake? It is very sturdy and will hold up well to carving and heavy icing.

Thanks for the suggestions. I see alot of people using the WASC cake so I'll definitely have to give it a try. What is the chocolate version called? Thanks for pointing me to Colette's white cake recipe. I didn't know she had any posted on food network's site (I love food network). I'll have to check it out. What is madeira cake? Is it made with madeira wine?

Madeira cake is not made with madeira wine but in Victorian times Madeira wine was usually served with it. It is a butter cake. It is quite popular here (UK) filled with buttercream and raspberry jam. If you'd like, I can post a recipe.

I'd love a recipe, JuneHawk!

Hi.

The recipe is complicated because it gives ingredient amounts for different size pans so I made a PDF of it. Here it is.

June

Thanks JuneHawk!

Thank you JuneHawk, I saved the recipie.
This is one I would like to try.
Blessings, Wita

Thanks for the recipe JuneHawk. Looks like I have lots of cakes to try (and send to work with the hubby, hehe). Thanks all. I'm still having trouble finding the chocolate cake recipe. Does anyone know what it is called?

I love Toba Garrett's Chocolate Fudge Cake. It is totally like a brownie!

Can't wait to see the M&M cake!

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I tried some of these and they were good. I ended up finding a recipe for a butter cake that worked really well. My husband found it on Allrecipes.com. Here's a picture of the cake I needed the recipes for. It's the Hamm car from the ending credits of the movie Cars. He has one and it is his favorite car. It's a carved butter cake covered in fondant. The wheels are RKT covered in choc fondant. The hat is a sugar cone. I'm very pleased with how this turned out. It's a little bumpy, but not bad for my first fondant cake.

Now I need to try some chocolate cake recipes for the stand up M&M cake my oldest son wants for his birthday.

I always just use a cheap Pilsbury mix (I've heard too many horror stories about Duncan Heinz to use it!) with an extra egg and a box of pudding mix added to what it calls for. My "white" cake is the Pilsbury white mix and a box of cheesecake pudding (and I use the whole egg). I haven't had anyone complain yet that it's not totally white. It's YUMMMY!

Does adding an extra egg and the pudding mix make it denser?

Yes! It's really good and I haven't had trouble torting or carving yet. It freezes well and isn't too crumb-y.

Adorable cake!

I like the Wilton Butter Cake recipe:

http://www.wilton.com/recipes/recipesandprojects/cake_mixes/r_butter_cake.cfm

Thanks for the tip, KittyPTerror. I'm definitely going to have to try that.

Thanks for the complements Solecito and dabear. I had a lot of fun doing it.

Bijoudelanuit, that cake recipe sounds yummy. I'm going to have to give it a try next time.

re wheels what does "RKT" mean?

Rice Krispie Treat

ah ha! Thank you Trinity!

AThis may be a stupid question, but.... do you use instant pudding, or cook and serve?

.......do you use instant pudding, or cook and serve.........

\

Cook & serve is best.

I use Easy vanilla butter cake recipe from taste.com . It is very easy and very delicious, especially for any occasions. so It's recipe i am sharing with you.

Ingredients :

Melted butter, to grease, 450g (3 cups) self-raising flour, 150g (1 cup) plain flour,440g (2 cups) caster sugar, 300g butter, cubed, at room temperature, 310ml (1 1/4 cups) milk, 6 eggs, at room temperature, 3 tsp vanilla essence.

Methods :

1. Preheat oven to 140°C. Position a rack on the second lowest shelf of the oven. Brush a round 25cm (base measurement) cake pan with the melted butter to lightly grease (see Notes tab for instructions for other tin sizes). Line base and sides with non-stick baking paper.
 

2. Place the self-raising flour, plain flour, sugar, butter, milk, eggs and vanilla essence in a large mixing bowl. Use an electric beater to beat on low speed for 30 seconds or until just combined. Increase the speed to high and beat for 1-2 minutes or until the mixture is thick and all the butter is incorporated. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.
 

3. Bake in preheated oven for 2 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside for 10 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack for 2 hours or until completely cool.

I use Easy vanilla butter cake recipe from taste.com . It is very easy and very delicious, especially for any occasions. so It's recipe i am sharing with you.

Ingredients :

Melted butter, to grease, 450g (3 cups) self-raising flour, 150g (1 cup) plain flour,440g (2 cups) caster sugar, 300g butter, cubed, at room temperature, 310ml (1 1/4 cups) milk, 6 eggs, at room temperature, 3 tsp vanilla essence.

Methods :

1. Preheat oven to 140°C. Position a rack on the second lowest shelf of the oven. Brush a round 25cm (base measurement) cake pan with the melted butter to lightly grease (see Notes tab for instructions for other tin sizes). Line base and sides with non-stick baking paper.
 

2. Place the self-raising flour, plain flour, sugar, butter, milk, eggs and vanilla essence in a large mixing bowl. Use an electric beater to beat on low speed for 30 seconds or until just combined. Increase the speed to high and beat for 1-2 minutes or until the mixture is thick and all the butter is incorporated. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.
 

3. Bake in preheated oven for 2 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside for 10 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack for 2 hours or until completely cool.

AI don't actually have to make the pudding, do I? I just put the powder, and the egg in with the box mix, right?