AGo Hard or Go Home. I Am attempting To Make My Daughter's First Birthday Cake....And It's My First Cake I've Ever Made Besides A Box Cake. I Was Going To Have It Professionally Done But unfortunately It's More Than I Can Afford...Fortunately, I'm Up For A Challenge. Any Suggestions Or Recommendations Would Be Appreciated.Recipes, Etc. Thanks In Advance

that's quite a tall order for a newbie but why not

i'd recommend using a nice pound cake--easy to make from scratch and good to sculpt with

then i'm gonna get you a great tutorial not that you can't find tons on you tube i guess

i'll be right back with the link

but you can get topsy turvy cake pans too

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/71115-demo-topsy-turvy-cake/page__pid__969488

and then this next is for sculpting--you can learn a lot from chefpeon

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/67296-demo-sculpting-a-cake/

and my favorite pound cake recipe is

Chanlette's Pound Cake

• 3 cups sugar
• 2 sticks (1/2 lb) butter, softened
• 6 eggs, room temperature
• 3 cups flour, sifted (cake flour for finer crumb - all purpose flour for strong chewier)
• 1 cup whipping cream ( I actually prefer to use heavy cream)
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. * Butter and flour a bundt or tube pan.
2. * Cream sugar and butter thoroughly
3. * Add eggs one at a time, beat well after each addition
4. * Alternately, mix in flour and cream
5. * Add vanilla extract
6. * Pour into prepared pan
7. * Set in COLD oven and turn heat to 350F
8. * Bake till done, about 70 mins, depending on your oven
9. * Cool 20 minutes
10. * Remove from pan and cool

get on your mark, get set, GO !!! 

that pound cake recipe has a cold oven start so it might not be the best to work with unless you let your oven cool down completely each time you bake some tiers

but there are of course tons of pound cake recipes available

but i love that recipe and the person who shared it with me so for what it's worth

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I know it's reaching far but as it is, I have only invited 10 guests (that's parents and kids) just to keep the budget small. Once I was quoted $300 for topsy turvy cake, I knew I had to do it myself if I wanted it to be done and inexpensive. I've been looking at videos of how to decorate with fondant and been voracious on this board just reading. Also, I just saw those topsy turvy cake pans. I saw the Fat Daddios and Petal Crafts Topsy Turvy Cake Pans and am deciding which one to purchase now. Any recommendations on a buttercream receipe to use? I'm excited and nervous. I will post up pictures as soon as this creation is done. All your suggestions and ideas are thoroughly appreciated. 

buttercream hmmm

i have a question for you

when is the party?

you might want to use some store bought items to lessen the learning curve load here a bit

but i use swiss meringue buttercream but i can't stand the thought of you learning how to make that right now

just make or buy a nice american buttercream

there's ten thousand different formulas

mine is agh...let's see...it's here some where..shuffles many books & papers hmm...

got it

1 cup fat, 1/2 cup liquid, 2# 10x (confectioner's)sugar, flavor, li'l salt

can't wait for pictures!!! but we gotta ways to go

The party is February 2. I'm gathering items slowly but surely. Dowels, Pans, etc...got to love Michael's their coupons. I'm just trying to be fully prepared for anything.

fully prepared --great thinking!

and an idea is to allow two or three times as much time as you think you need

once you get the big ball rolling--srsly i usually say two times but for a tt three times!

maybe even do a quick mock up with box mixes or even store bought cakes

but just take it step by step following one method

if you use the tt pans then use that method step by step

leave yourself plenty of time for potential reversals

time to re-do things

hey--bake twice as much cake and store it in the freezer maybe

then you're ready for anything

So here is my cake. It took me all day but here it is and it tasted delicious. I was adventurous and did red velvet top layer, chocolate second and bottom level vanilla. 

aww--how sweet!!!

you did good, mom!!!

cupcakes too???

you were busy!!

or if they're store bought--you're smart!!!!

Really great first cake... you are braver that I every was!!!

Oh I didn't even realize you can see the cupcakes too. I did make them too. I made red velvet (left over from the top layer (i put cream cheese in the middle of the cake), three muskeeters and twinkie cupcakes. Pinterest makes you feel like you can make anything. I was in the kitchen back and forth between my mom's house. My oven is on the fritz so you can imagine back and forth, back and forth. It was all worth it though.

Pinterest makes you feel like you can do anything. I did red velvet cupcakes with the left over from the top layer of the cake, three musketeers and twikie cupcakes. I was going back and forth between my house and my parent's because my oven was on the fritz but it was all worth it in the end. 

For a first cake you did a fantastic job, keep up the caking.

Thank you everyone. I hope this is the beginning to many more cakes and cupakes to come