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

[Joy B]

Beautiful! Will have to try this one...Soon!
XoXoXo
Joy

[Janice]

I made this cake for my son's birthday and wanted to tell you how helpful your tutorial is. I referred back to the photos countless times and followed your directions to a T. I was very pleased with the results and loved the way it looked and tasted!

[Michelle B.]

After you cut out the stripes and alternate the colors, don't you have enough for a second cake?with the strips you moved out to put the other color in. If so, you could always do a two layer cake with alternating colors couldn't you?

[Allison]

You are my hero for making this look so easy. I made the vertical layers and covered them with your roses, and ran into some funny antics. It all worked, and was so impressive, but might have been over my patience level.

You can read my antics here: http://bit.ly/eIjZCT

[birdlady]

I tried this for the first time this weekend and even with my husband helping me, still had a hard time. I don't know how you do it but YOU ROCK! I will attempt this a few more times to see if I can improve on it, but I don't know if I have the patience to get it as perfect as you did. Thanks for sharing the tutorial, this was a great experiment!

[Natalia]

oh my, what a wonderful idea, thanks for sharing the tutorial. I must really try this soon :)

[411bee]

this is so awesome, thank you. I can't wait to try this.

[Anne]

One word: genius!

Do you think something other than a simple syrup could be used? Something like a tres leche milk mix (but obviously not as "soaked") or wil that freeze funny?

[Amanda]

Hi! Thanks for sharing your creative recipe! I made this cake for my Stepmom on Mother's day. I attempted to do the roses too, but I didn't have the same tip as you. I ended up doing my own version of roses. :o) This was my first attempt at decorating a cake, and it was a lot of fun! Here's a public link to see some pictures if you want. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/28956525/Site_2/index.html

[Sarah Dupee]

So will one cake recipe make two 8" cakes to stwck ontop of one another or do I need to make two batches of red velvet and two batches of white cake?

[Serene]

I'm late seeing this, but wow, it's lovely!

[Cuttertrpld]

I am making two of these this week and I am so excited to see how they turn out. Mine are chocolate and vanilla, so I am going to crumbcoat between the layers with chocolate buttercream to see how that works to keep the layers together. I am so excited to see how these turn out!

[Amy]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003LR1AAI/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0000VLGWU&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=00QBW8MVZFTR25HTSVS6

I tried one of these and it works amazing!

[Nic@diningwithastud]

This looks amazing! Iv been looking everywhere for a decent wedding cake. I should just hire you ;)
Im obsessed with red velvet so def going to try this on the weekend and will see if I can do a creeme cheese frosting layer as well. Will keep you posted :)

[Amelie]

This is just gorgeous! I'm going to do this with my friend's favorite quote.

[Stefani]

That cake is awesome. You definitely have more patience when it comes to baking.

[Thehungryhoustonian.blogspot.com]

Thanks for the great tutorial! I made this for a bachelorette party. It wasn't as pretty as yours, but it got rave reviews from everyone. I will definitely be trying this again. Also, I added some pixie dust for some sparkle since it was such a girly occasion!

You can see it here: http://thehungryhoustonian.blogspot.com/2011/06/last-night-in-wild.html

Stephanie

[Madicakes]

Would it work to get one of those checkerboard cake rings and, instead of alternating colors on each layer, make each layer the same. I am going to try this!!!

[Amanda Rettke]

I am not sure Madicakes... I do not own one of those checkerboard cakes things. But I have heard its an option. :)

[Marin]

This is gorgeous! I might have to try it. And that is the quote I used for my wedding. It was on the invites and a couple other things. Lovely!

[Lisa - Sockerrus]

I just made this cake and I love it! :-)
You can see the result on my blog, Sockerrus (means sugar rush in Swedish. Check it out here: http://sockerrus.se/2011/06/16/en-annorlunda-tarta/

Thanks for a brilliant blog! I love it! :-)
/Lisa

[Corinne]

The way ive done vertical cakes like this is you take your original cake pan and two pastry bags of the two batters or colors and then cut a wide circle and pipe the the batter in.

[Georgia Pellegrini]

I am in awe! So amazing.

[Ana Paula Ferreira]

Can I have a piece??? There should be a song for "the most beautiful cake in the world"!

[Paula]

I came across your blog,and just have to say wow! and wow! Every time I got to the bottom of a page I couldn't resist clicking 'Next' many.many. times. Love it. alot. I think i made my point. :)

[Kokudagbokin]

Hi,

I haven't been following your blog for long but love everything on it! Your directions and recommendations for recipes are very useful.

I tried doing your vertical layer cake and did some instructions in Icelandic as well, just wanted to share it with you. Not sure how much you will understand, but here it is anyway: http://kokudagbokin.com/2011/05/26/rosarterta-med-lodrettri-lagskiptingu/

Regards,
Eva

[Krysta]

Holy cow. Amazing!

[Vania Vilaça]

Fantastic tip!

[Katie Sims]

This is such a pretty cake!! :)

[Allycia]

You could have used metal cake rings to cut your layers out. then they would be perfectly straight and the same width. GREAT IDEA! Love it!

http://www.anything4restaurants.com/products/1-38-35-cm-deep-cake-rings-126906.html

[K]

I'm going to be making this this weekend for my birthday! I can only hope it turns out as great =]

[robyn]

I have one of these and it's very easy to use.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?rlz=1T4SNNT_en___KR359&q=checkerboard+cake+pan&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=14228539395101657061&sa=X&ei=e8gTToD5L4bX0QG-1N3wDw&ved=0CEUQ8wIwAA#

[Cat]

This looks really cool and I love the idea of a quote but a simpler way would be to use a cake ring as a cut out then reassembling the two togther

[Ella]

Can you freeze the cakes overnight after they have been re-assembled, or will that dry the cakes out?

[Jessica]

http://bakingpleasures.com.au/p8320/checkerboard-cake-pan-set

The checkerboard cake tin.... I think I will buy this, looks easier haha!

[TexasBlueEyes]

You are amazing! I would have never even thought to do this!

[Hoosiersmoker]

This looks AWESOME!!! I think I know what I'll be bringing to three of the 4th of July parties I'm going to next year!!!! Or maybe Red and Green at Christmas! Black and white for the Indy 500!!!! I'm inspired and for a cynic such as myself, that's saying something. Thanks for your post!

[Dorothy Bruyns]

If you put a white cake as the bottom layer and a red cake as the top layer and then invert evey other ring, you would get a checkered pattern!

[Barbara Gordon]

Nice job..! But, I will still leave it up to you. I am better at eating it than decorating it....

[Z]

Fabulous cake!!!

Also, the quote is actually often misquoted as Shakespeare but is actually by Arrigo Boito

[Jaclynn]

I cannot wait to make this.

[Kelli Harvey]

I apologize in advance for the novice question, but I have never used simple syrup before. How much should I pour over the reassembled cakes and do I simply pour it over them?

Thanks and I'm so excited to try this!!!

[Diane Hunt]

What do you think about putting the two cakes on top of each other? Layered horizontally after vertically layering them? Could it work with a layer of frosting between the two vertically layered cakes? Let me know what you think ASAP. :) I am making this cake tomorrow evening and would love to get your input. Thanks so much for your creativity and inspiration!

[Christie]

I believe you can buy ring molds to insert into a baking pan (since you ask if there is an easier way).

[crystal]

I have my first cake in the oven. I am so excited to make this. I am sending one to my husbands job tomorrow and I am making the other to share with my neighbors!! Thank you so much for the tutorial! Your cakes are lovely!

[Cat]

WOW that is amazing but I was wondering how did you get the quote on the side so neat and straight?