The instructions here say to use cakeboards and dowels and to cut the cakes. The instructions in The Whimsical Bake House say to make the filling uneven for the look. Has anyone done it? Which method did you use?

http://www.cakecentral.com/article1-Instructions-For-Building-A-Whimsical-Tilted-Cake.html

Amber - I was wondering the same thing...hopefully someone will answer now...bumping it back up!

Jenn

You might PM Jackie - She has one in her pictures so she has done one.

I have never tried one, but I assume that either would work if done correctly.

I tried both methods.

I found that having the sides of the cake slightly uneven helped a LOT.
When I just built up the icing, I found it very difficult to keep its shape, especially on large cakes with many layers. If you are doing a smaller cake, building up your icing should work out fine.

I also found that using dowels and cake boards is an absolute necessity.
I have yet to build a multi-layer whimsy cake that will not buckle under the weight of all the upper layers and frosting if there are no boards or dowels (straws) supporting it.

I haven't tried either way yet, but personally I would feel safer with the boards and dowels b/c I know my cakes are level. Depending on what filling you use I would be afraid of my cake slipping on it, expecially if it was going to be transported any distance.

Now I am gonna have to try one of these things! LOL, to be honest some people make gorgeous ones, but maybe I am a little old fashioned because I truly don't care much for the way they look, but now I feel like I should challenge myself to at least TRY, you never know when someone will order one and I would be at a loss! I always tend to forget it isnt all about what I like..lol

I've seen them done other places (besides here) and everyone has done it with the cake, and not just frosting.

I think in the WBH they perhaps did that so it would be less intimidating for the average user.

I saw a blurb on the WBH bakery on Food TV. The "filling" that they use looks more like a very thick spackle to me. They say it's Cookies-n-Cream filling but it was SUPER thick.

I also noticed that none of their cakes they showed using the build-up-the-filling technique were very large. None more than 2 tiers and they looked like a 9" or 10" and a 6".

I'm dying to try one of these--just haven't had the time. I need to test it out first before I start offering it to my clients.

Lisa

I found this online, and haven't tried it out, but I think this is what you're looking for


Whimsical Bakehouse Cookies and Cream

In the bowl of an electric mixer at high speed, whip until stiff:
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Gently fold in: 20 chocolate sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, crushed into medium pieces.

Yield 6 cups

Well Sugar, thanks for sharing that recipe - it is a great recipe for some things, but I wouldn't think it would be a good one for building up icing because an icing with that amount of whipping cream is not stable/thick or dense enough. Plus this kind of filling has to be kept refrigerated and these cakes take some time to assemble. If you are covering with fondant, a whipped cream filling can cause issues. The weight of the fondant squishes out the filling, especially if the filling gets too warm and this happens even with a stiff buttercream dam.
I think if you made up your buttercream with the minimal amount of liquid and added cookie crumbs to it, it would be a lot more dense for this application.
Personally I would trust the cut cakes over the thickened slanted filling method.
I board and dowel the cakes also. The tricky part is when you reverse the cut slanted portion of the cake because afterwards you are then cutting a well in this cake so that the next tier sits in there level. I have made these cakes with 2, 2 inch layers each tier and one 3 inch layer and also 2, 3 inch layers. It is easier to cut this well into the previously cut to slant cake when you use two 3 inch deep layers per tier. However this makes them a little harder to handle. So I suspect going with one three inch layer per tier and not filling it except where you put the slanted top back on the cake, may be the easiest method. The reason is, if you cut the well into the cake and the cake is not deep enough, the well part will actually be where the filling is. Now some folks do not fill these cakes where they re-apply the top slanted portion, but I do, to insure that it stays stuck and doesn't slide. I also use a stiff buttercream dam first.
If you just want to experiment, go for the smallest sized pans you own.
Make sure you use a good dense cake too, like a pound cake. Otherwise the cake is not stable enough to support the dowelling and boarded cakes. The common problem is the centre cake splitting in the dowelled area, so use a really dense cake to try to eliminate this problem. Interestingly, most folks have a problem with the splitting occuring in the middle of three tiers, along the dowels.
A 2 tiered whimsical cake holds up the best, if it is your first try. I don't tranport these without a centre dowel, to be on the safe side.
Hugs Squirrelly

It is from my understanding that this is just a filling and not a frosting.
Here's the link

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5473&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0

Yes Sugar, but that is what I meant, with these cakes you need a stiff filling and whipping cream doesn't give you a stiff filling as it never really firms up enough unless it is used in a small amount, just as the liquid added. Oh you likely mean, because I referred to it as an icing? Sorry, meant to say filling, but actually I see no reason why, on an ordinary cake, this could not be used as an icing, I have seen it used in bakeries.
Yes, if you are using something in a large quantity as a filling, most particularly in a case when you are using it to build up height, which is really what you would be doing in this case, to get the slant, then you need something really stiff. So whipped cream fillings such as this or mousse and those types, even puddings, are not the most stable of fillings when there is going to be a lot of weight on top like in the case of a stacked cake or a whimsical cake. Worse if your cake is covered with fondant.
If you use a regular buttercream icing, normally you add 2 tbsp. as liquid, well then you can use the whipping cream as the liquid. So in a regular recipe with 4 or 5 cups icing sugar, this amount of liquid would give you stiff buttercream which normally you would thin down for purposes other than the stiff buttercream dam. So with only the 2 tbsp. added (I should use the Wilton recipe with the 1/2 butter, half cream as an example, this uses 2 tbsp. of liquid) that would likely be a good stiff icing to use if you were going to try slanting your cakes strictly using the icing to get the slant, not cutting the cakes to get the slant. Of course you would have to insure that the icing was a bit sticky so that it would hold the cake in place. If it is too dry, it won't adhere the cake to itself and you may get slipping issues.
Hugs Squirrelly

I use the illusion method when I make one. The cakes are actually straight but look slanted. I would not feel comfortable doing them any other way!

Thanks for all the help girls! I think I'm definately going to use the dowels/cutting to do it.
Amber