topsy turvy cake

Here is a discussion a while back on cake central about topsy turvy pans.Not sure if any of this will help you or not.

http://cakecentral.com/t/717375/topsy-turvy-cake-pans-has-anyone-used-one
 

I haven't used the Topsy Turvy pans but I have made a couple topsy turvy cakes.  I would recommend getting the dvd from Sharon Zambito (SugarEdProductions).  It is a great DVD and explains the process very well using regular round cake pans.

This is the last one I made using her DVD.

That one is very tall and very pretty!! Amazing how crooked it is but it stays up!!! Her video must be very good. If I ever decide to do one I will get her video. Thanks for the information!!
 

Actually it is an illusion.  Each tier is carved with a pocket on the top that the cake above sets in to make it level.  I could not have made this cake without the help of her video.

You sure did a great job with it. Sounds like to me that the video is well worth the money for those trying to make the topsy turvy cake.
 

I highly recommend Sharon's videos.  I used another of her DVDs when I made the flowers for the cake in my profile picture.

Because I am a visual person I love videos. I think I learn easier when I actually see it done verses reading it.  Thanks for the tip!! I appreciate it because I need to learn a lot more and videos is the way to go for me!!!
 

I recently made a topsy turvy cake using the fat daddio pans.  I am a hobby baker, and had never made anything remotely this big.  I spent several months researching and preparing.  The pans worked very nicely, but retrospectively I might have carved the top angles a little more steeply.  The pans have a moderate tilt, and may not be "wonky" enough.  As state above, the bottom of each  layer is level, and sits in a cutout of the cake layer below. There are several good videos on youtube.  the layers are doweled, so the bottom level does not need to be a dense cake.  The weight of the upper layers is carried by the dowels.  I also hammered a pointed dowel down through the middle of the whole thing at the end and it was quite stable.  (I put the little guy on the top after delivery).  Hope that helps, good luck!

I used a modified box mix for my topsy cake.  For each box of cake mix (Betty Crocker) I used 4 egg whites (or whole eggs for cakes other than white), 1/3 cup oil, 1/2 cup water and 1 cup sour cream.  I used to add one box of instant pudding but found that made the cake really moist and had trouble getting the cake to bake completely.  I also bake with the baking stripes around the pans.

For stability, I doweled two tiers together and then assembled and decorated them on sight.

I used the 12, 8 and 6 inch pans.  I carved the sides in a little more because the pans are only moderately wonky, but the pans certainly were easy and are a good starting point.  I am a scratch baker.  The top and bottom layers were my every day go-to deluxe Devil's food cake, which is not at all dense . (cookies and cream filling, chocolate ganache under the fondant). The middle layer was also a normal lemon cake, not dense. (raspberry filling and  lemon curd filling, with white chocolate ganache under the fondant).  Each cake was four layers of cake, 3 layers of filling.  Happy to help, good luck!

The density of the cake will not matter for support, each cake needs to be on a cardboard and doweled or sps separator (look up SPS, tons of info on this site for that type of support).  The weight is completely held by your supports, you could stack jello and be fine if properly supported.

For a topsy turvy, a denser recipe is better for the cake tiers with sides that are carved to an angle, because the angled sides decrease the stability of each individual cake and can lead to sagging or bulging (no matter if it is 1 tier or 5).  It doesn't necessarily need to be pound cake, though that would work, but you can use any denser cake recipe.  

Make sure you let the carved/filled cakes settle for a few hours (overnight, wrapped tightly with Press n Seal is best) at room temp, then ice and chill well before you cover it with fondant.  You'll want to research stacking cakes.  No cake should be tiered without the proper support - cake boards, dowels...  If you place dowels only in each tier without the cake boards in between, it won't support the cake above, the board is what rests on the dowel and distributes the weight properly.  Kind of like building a table, you need the legs and the top piece. 

Just an FYI, if you are using the pans and leaving the tilt as-is, you'll be fine with buttercream, bit I carve mine and always tilt a lot more than that, and I will not do another topsy turvy with buttercream, or a standard moist and fluffy recipe. I keep having my tiers mis-shapen, or have the lip I carved peel right down, or crumble, or crack....And I am rolling my fondant 1/4 inch thick, to help hold the sides together!