Vertical Layer Cake Tutorial

I really need to preface this tutorial with... I am sorry.  I am SURE there are easier ways to do a Vertical Layer Cake.  

But I was being a brat for my birthday.

I wanted real cake, and not sponge cake.

I wanted two different flavors. (that might be a pregnancy thing)

I wanted massive amounts of frosting. (that might be a pregnancy thing too)

Hence, I bucked every traditional mold I had seen for a vertical layer cake and made my own.

Sorry.

The second time making the cake I was surprised by how quickly everything went.  Its amazing how much smoother life is with a plan.

Huh.  I gotta remember that.

Anywho... I made two cakes.  One red velvet and one white cake.  I made them in 8in pans and used these methods for creating a level cake.

Here is an important step... IMMEDIATELY out of the oven, like say within five minutes at most, I removed the cakes from their pans and cut of the top crusty layer of cake of both 8in cakes.  

I then placed the cut parts together.  (It should look like a two layer cake here, except without frosting) Then put it in the freezer for no less then five hours.

The reason I do this is:

1. I want the height of a two layer cake. (four or five inches)

2. I do not want a frosting seam.

3. This helps to meld the layers together so they appear one complete layer.

If you have a 5in deep cake pan and can successfully bake a 5in cake then just do that! (lots easier BTW)

Now!  Once the cakes have firmed up nicely (after a good five hours, but give it six if you can!) you can remove them from the freezer.

We will begin to cut out our layers!

I simply used a cardboard cake round as my guide.  I traced out three evenly (ha!  I am so not a perfectionist, so bear with me) spaced concentric circles.

I am now going to cut off the outside circle.

Place the template back on the cake.  Now I need to carve around that circle!  Its important to try and get your knife at a 90 degree angle... you want a very straight up and down cut.

Follow the template as close as you can.  A sharp knife here is a great idea!!

You are going to do this with BOTH cakes.

Now I cut off another circle and started the process again.

Do this to both cakes.

Then cut off another circle so you are left with the center portion. (FYI, if you want to do another circle, therefore making your center smaller, you certainly can!)

 You are now left with two cakes that have concentric circles cut in each.

 The next step might go against everything you know about cake... but just do it anyway.

Wow that was bossy.

Take a nice big sharp knife and cut from the OUTSIDE of the center circle through the cake.

You are going to gently separate the layers into individual sections.  This is why it is SO important to have a very chilled if not frozen cake!

Choose which center you want to start with. (I choose the white cake) 

Take the next larger layer of the other cake and place it around the center.

Keep doing this... alternating the layers... until you have a complete cake assembled again!

And there you go!  Easy right?

Now... were you worried about the layers not staying together?  I fixed that with three easy steps.

1. Pour a simple syrup over the re-assembled cakes. (not too much!!)

2. Place a wax paper "belt" around the cake and bind it together with a cord or towel scrap.

3. Place it back in the freezer for a bit!

 A couple hours before you are ready to decorate, place the cakes in the fridge so they can "thaw" without sweating.

(I wouldnt recommend decorating a frozen cake.)

 Now... please forgive me but I didn't decorate the outside with the roses.  

I just did a smooth layer of frosting then wrote out a romantic quote I found from Shakespeare.

 Its nothing fancy, but it was easy.  You weren't here for the outside right?

 "When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew."

And there are the vertical layers!

If you make this cake please let me know, I would love to see!  And of course, love to know if you came up with an easier way. :)

Comments

[kita]

I just recently made a vertical layer cake and actually baked the cake in two jelly roll pans so it was flat. Divided it into 4 strips each and rolled the cake together like a jelly roll end to end. Your way looks like it would probably produce a much nicer finished product. :)

[Renee]

Stunning cake. I'll have to give this a try sometime.

[Joy]

That is so cool!!! You are just so freakin creative! :)

[Alison]

amazing!! Thank you so much!

[brenda]

This looks so cool!!! I wonder if I can talk Kiara into doing this instead of a heart. :) Thank you for another fantastic tutorial!

[ChelleBallard]

Not only is this cake amazing and beautiful with the roses or with the quote... this cake also makes two cakes so you can do both :) I can't wait to try it!

[Marian (Sweetopia)]

Wow! As usual, blown away by your talent Amanda!
You've made a gorgeous-looking cake and an easy to follow tutorial... I'm showing this one to the kids tomorrow too!

[Alicia]

Oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!! Genius!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rita]

Amazing!! Thank you for sharing!!

[Mindy]

Beautiful as always!!! :)

[bridget (bake at 350)]

Girl....I know you just showed how to make this....but I STILL know I couldn't do it. That is a feat of engineering right there. I use this word all the time to describe your sweets, but it doesn't make it any less true.....amazing!

[Stephanie]

That is awesome. I should tackle one ... just for the fun of it. And that quote totally made me go "ahhh" ... outloud. What can I say?, I am a hopeless romantic. :) Great job on the cake tutorial ... not go take a nap!

[Amy's blah, blah, blog]

Wow! I just keep thinking, how is she going to top this one? With. Every. Cake. You. Make.

You are so talented. And creative. And inspiring. Love, love, love it!

[Nancy @SensitivePantry]

Brilliant!! I love your cakes.

[Cookbook Queen]

You. Are. Amazing.

I would have never thought of such a thing!! The way your brain works truly blows my mind. :) I hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day with your sweetie.

[CJ]

WOWEEE! I am toying with the idea of giving this a try. You are super talented and creative!! Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.

[Dee]

Wow!!! I have been trying to figure out how you did that since you first posted the cake. Thank you so much for the tutorial. Just amazing!

[Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction]

Amazing! I have been wondering how you pulled off the vertical stripes in your cake. I actually think this cake is pretty, too... Love the smooth outside and quote!

[Amy]

Incredible!

[Tracy]

Amanda, you never cease to amaze me! I just love this cake!!

[paula hennig]

I'm soooo glad you posted this tutorial! Now I can stop wracking my brain trying to figure out how you made this cake!! Thanks:) It's awesome!

[marla {family fresh cooking}]

AMAZING!!! Love this Amanda - you really make cake decorating seem do able. I think I could attempt this. If I was pregnant there is no way I could keep from diving my head into a cake like this. xo

[Debbie @TheHipHostess]

I am totally going to step out of my comfort zone and try this Amanda! So happy you were kind enough to post this tutorial! I am so excited! Oh, now I'm going to need a pretty cake stand!

[Bediels & Co. (Jen)]

LOVE this! Thanks for sharing!

[Prairie Lily Arts]

This cake speaks "special" in so many ways. Will definitely be made and offered with love in our home. Thank you!

[GarEli]

Mil Gracias!!
FABULOSO!!!
Gracias por compartir.

[Sue]

I can't wait to try it - thanks so much for sharing!

[Darla]

You are truly unbelieveable! Great job!

[Lauren @ Crave. Indulge. Satisfy.]

WOW! You are amazing, absolutely gorgeous! Where did you come up with this idea from in the first place? So glad you did the tutorial b/c I was having a hard time visualizing how this all worked out from your original rose cake pictures! Hope you had a great birthday!

[Rhondi]

Truly amazing, as usual! Great tutorial with all the pictures.

[Londa]

This would be one of those baking projects I think I'd just have to pay someone to make for me! Seriously, someone needs to start paying you for these amazing creative caking skills! How do you come up with these beautiful ideas? I'm just glad I can tell people, "Yes, I 'know' i am baker!"

[Pat]

Absolutely amazing! Your talent never ceases to amaze me. I so want to try this...and I can just see pieces of cake falling every which way. :-) Thank you so very much for sharing! It really is a knockout...

[Shaina]

Again, genius. Seriously, we're getting together. To make this cake. Only I have a few plans for it. I can come there. You can come here. Maybe I'll even bring you a mixer. ;)

[Michelle (What's Cooking with Kids)]

This is the epitome of showing your love through the effort you put into your food...

[Diane {createdbydiane.blogspot.com}]

LOVE it, so pretty. I'm not sure I'd attempt vertical layers yet :) but I made a cake the other day and as I decorated it, I thought of you and how you used red velvet crumbs last year on your heart cake and well...I made a cake :) I made a cake :) LOL It's been a while, and I made a small three tier cake, the post should be up in a few days....not sure I want to critic my photos yet, but I sure had fun. I love all you beautiful work!

[Journeyfromself.wordpress.com]

This looks great! I can't wait to get an opportunity to try this out!

[And just a heads up, I think that's actually a Arrigo Boito quote, not Shakespeare...]

[Angela Gifford]

Thank you for doing a tutorial!....and I love the simple decorating.

[Shelley]

Wow! That is awesome!!!

[Georganne]

WOW. This cake is absolutely STUNNING. Thank you so VERY VERY much for making a tutorial and SHARING it. WOW.

[Mia Dube']

wow......love it!

[Sue]

Thanks you for showing step-by-step photos, so that even I can understand:) Love the bright red cake, your smooth frosting and the lovely quote! What a romantic cake:)

[Mayerlin]

i say what!!!!??!?!? AWESOMENESS MY DEAR AWESOMENESS!

[grace]

clever. your cakes are quite flexible...methinks they're more flexible than me! :) thanks for the how-to, and here's hoping i can summon the nerve to try it!

[Rowaida Flayhan]

Amazing thank you so much for this tutorial love it

[Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen]

The step by step pictures are really helpful, it totally makes sense now that I see it explained visually like that.

[Mima]

You are awesome !!! The cake looks cool :O)
Thancks for sharing.
I will try this out soon
jijiji Manda you are the best :O)

[Tanja]

Awesome! I'm so going to make this for Valentine's day! Yay!

[Amy K]

Gorgeous! Thanks for the tutorial. I am definitely a visual learner, so the photos are really appreciated. You make it look so easy - thanks for always sharing your talents!

[nyanyels]

Your a great teacher for me. I love this tutorial. You make it look so easy. Thank you.

[Yosha]

This is lovely! Reading your tutorial I realized you could probably do the same thing using the pans for the checkerboard cake. Instead of having one cake layer separate colours from other two, all three cake layers will be the same pattern. You could probably do w/o a special pan by have cardboard wrapped in foil being the separators. Actually this might better in that you can have as many vertical strips as you want.

Of course it may not be as even and pretty as your cake! But if you bake one large cake with separators instead of 3 cakes and stacking it might be okay. Another caveat is that the cakes would have to be at least same consitency (but diff flavours colours if you wish) so it bakes at the same rate.

My mini thought for the day! i haven't tried any of these, just theory at the moment.

Cheers Amanda,