My First Ever Topsy Turvy Cake!

After a few years of longing to make a topsy turvy, I finally made one for Boo Bear's birthday in May.  This is my first attempt at making a topsy turvy cake!  It is by no means perfect, but I think it turned out nicely.  Plus, my sister absolutely loved it!  

Each tier is about 2-3 inches tall, with the tiers being 3", 5", and 7" in circumference.  Each tier has two layers with buttercream icing in the middle. The bottom layer is vanilla pound cake, whilst the top layer is chocolate pound cake.  The top, middle and bottom tiers yield 2-3, 8-10, and 12-16 pieces of cake, depending on how big/small you cut your pieces.

It took me 2 days to make this cake.  On the first day, I made the vanilla and chocolate pounds cakes and the buttercream icing.  I also cut and iced the cakes.  On the second day, I made the marshmallow fondant, covered the tiers in the fondant, and finally added some decorative touches.

Continue reading to see how I made the cake with pictures, and scroll down to the bottom to see additional views of the finished cake.

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Day 1

In preparation for making the cakes, I cut cardboard circles to be the size of the bottom of each tier - 2", 4" and 6".  These were covered in aluminum foil.  I, also, cut circles (3", 5", and 7") out of wax paper to use to trace the cakes for cutting.

I used the same pan to make the vanilla and chocolate pound cakes.  First, I made the vanilla, let it cool, and then I made the chocolate and let it cool also.  I used an 8x12 inch pan which was just the perfect size for cutting out my 3", 5" and 7" circle cakes.  Ideally, I would have had the three different sizes of cake pans, but I can't have everything I want all the time.  

While one of the cakes was baking I made the buttercream icing and refrigerated it.  Once the cakes were cool, I put them into the freezer as it is easier to work with a frozen cake.

When the cakes were frozen enough to work with, I placed my wax paper circles on top of each cake and cut away the excess, as you will see in Picture 1.  

Picture 1

Now before you freak at how much of the cake was left over, let me assure you that not a single crumb went to waist - even if it didn't all get used in the cake.  All, that was not used on the cake, was eaten.

Next, I used my aluminum-covered circles to cut away the bottom sides of the vanilla cake.  This way the bottom of the cake is smaller than the top.  Then, I took the chocolate layer and carefully cut it on an angle horizontally.  It was rotated 180º and iced into place.  This was placed on top of the vanilla layer with some buttercream spread in between them.  Since it didn't quite have the slope it needed, I used the excess chocolate cake to build the angle up on the top of the cake.  That is how it gets the tipsy look without actually falling over.  I forgot to take a picture of these steps.  I was really getting into it, so I missed a few picture opportunities.  Oh well!  You will get to see what I mean about how I did this when you see pictures of the cake after it has been cut at the bottom of this page.

Once that was done,  I roughly spread buttercream on the outside of each tier.  This can be seen in Pictures 2 & 3.  Then, I placed them in the fridge to keep for a Day.

Picture 2

Picture 3

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Day 2

I took the cakes out of the fridge to bring to room temperature because according to my Fiance's sister, who was graciously helping me to make the fondant, "the marshmallow fondant adheres better to things that are room temperature.

She then proceeded to show me and teach me how to make her marshmallow fondant.  Together we made 3 different colours.  Unfortunately, I didn't pictures of this step either.

Next step was to roll out the fondant and place them onto the 3 tiers.  

I started with the smallest tier and worked my way to the largest one.

I carefully rolled the fondant out; then I placed it onto the top of the tier.  Next, I smoothed down the sides with some random plastic item I had on hand.  Then, I cut away the access, and smoothed it out some more.

As I was smoothing the fondant onto the cakes, the buttercream icing kept dripping out the bottom.  I think next time, I will keep them cold to put the fondant on.

The top tier was hard to work with because it was so small, but it turned out the best of all of them.  

The middle tier was the most stubborn.  I nearly cried when one side of the fondant kept tearing and I had to do it all over again.

However, by the bottom tier, I was finally getting the hang of it.  See pictures of each tier in progress to the right.

I am sure it will get easier with more practice, and become less messy.  Below in Picture 4, you'll see all tiers covered in fondant.

Picture 4

Top Tier

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Middle Tier

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Bottom Tier

Once that was done, I needed to cut dowels for the bottom and middle tiers to support the tier above them.  You will see 5 dowels cut and positioned into both tiers in Picture 5 to the right.

Then one dowel was cut to the full height of the cake to be placed down the center of all tiers together.  It was at this point when I realized I probably should have poked a hole into each of my aluminum-cardboard circles. Instead, I improvised by carefully poking holes through each of the cakes and the cardboards.  Finally, I placed the dowel through the center of the two bottom tiers and then placed the smaller one on top so there would be no hole at the top of the cake.  

Picture 6

Picture 5

I played with the cake, turning the tiers around until I got the most topsy turvy look I could get.  See Picture 6 for final look before decorations were added.

Lastly, I took the leftover fondant and cut out shapes to make butterflies and flowers.  I also rolled up little balls in each colour to go around the bottom of each tier and give it a more finished look.  I then used water and a paint brush to "glue" the decorations onto the cake.

Below are pictures from different sides to get the different angles of the cake.  Each side has a completely different angle/look to it.

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Gallery of Finished Cake