Topsy Turvy Cake~ Video Tutorial
I love the whimsical look of topsy turvy cakes! With their wonky angles and tapered sides, they have such a fun and festive feel. In this three part video tutorial, I am going to show you how to carve, cover with fondant, and decorate a three tiered topsy turvy cake.
Because of the length of the video, we divided this tutorial into three parts. We hope that you enjoy it!
Materials Used: (This is a comprehensive list for all three Parts of the Tutorial)
In this video, we are using 10"/8"/6" tiers, which are tapered around the sides. The 10" is tapered to an 8" width at the base of the tier. The 8" cake is tapered to a 6" at the base. The 6" (which had actually shrunk to 5.5" once baked) was tapered to 4".
*You must use a dense cake if tapering the sides. My cake was the "Durable Cake" listed in our recipes section. Pound cake would work well also.
White Chocolate Ganache as described in our "Simple Spreadable Ganache" recipe in the recipes section. It's a 3:1 ratio of chocolate to cream. (We used 55 oz or 1559g) which is five 11 oz bags Ghirardelli White Baking Chips to 18 oz (530g) or 2 ¼ c. heavy cream.)
Elizabeth Marek's Fondant (or your preferred brand/recipe) *I added a little tylose powder when it was time to do the bow and numbers. Fondant amounts: (Green 10" tapered bottom tier: 40 oz (1124g), White 8" tapered center tier, 36 oz (1020g), and pink 6" tapered top tier: 24 oz (680 g)
Cardboard Cake Circles (I used 2 for each tier, cut to the size of the cake). Also 5 cake boards stacked for the cake base.
Bubble tea straws or your supports of choice
Sharp knife for carving the cake (I prefer serrated).
Bucket or bowl to elevate the cake (Optional but I find this really helpful) If you buy pre-made fondant, this is often a good sized bucket!
Coloring Gels: I used Americolor Deep Pink & Americolor Electric Green
Parchment Paper- I used when making the templates for our wells
Piping Tips- I used Wilton small round tips for piping paisleys (Tip 2), and tip 12 for the small polka dots on the top tier
FMM Multi-Ribbon Cutter- for my fondant strips on the bow
Royal Icing for piping the decorations
Lollipop Sticks- For the cake topper
Small Paint Brushes--Miscellaneous
Buttercream--We had our Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream on hand for "gluing" tiers together, etc.
Candy Melts- We glued our cake to the cake base with candy melts
Cake stand/base- We used a plastic tablecloth to wrap around the cake base (five 12" cake cardboards), and then secured ribbon.
Fondant Smoothing paddles or thick acetate (optional) for smoothing your fondant onto the cake
Miscellaneous: Plastic Wrap, Scissors, Sharp Knifes, rolling pin for fondant, vegetable shortening (optional), sugar glue or piping gel, small paint brushes (optional), offset spatula for frosting/ganaching
A Few Notes:
Just a reminder that you do not have to taper the sides of your cake. I've seen some beautiful topsy turvy cakes where there is no taper at all...just angled tops. This is especially a good idea if you are not working with a very dense cake.
*If you don't taper the sides of your cake, I would make sure that there is at least a 3 inch difference in tier size as you move from tier to tier. For instance, I wouldn't do an 8"/6" non-tapered topsy turvy. I would do 9"/6".
For tapered tiers, it is fine if you begin with a two inch difference between tiers (we used 6/8/10") because by the time that you stack the cake, the bottom of each tier will have been tapered.
**As I mention in the video, make sure that you give your tiers a little wiggle room within their wells. If you don't, and the fit is very snug, they will put too much pressure on the cake surrounding the well and could cause a split. This is why I chill my tiers before assembling...because there is a good chance that you will need to make some adjustments to the well size before the tiers fit perfectly.
PART ONE: Part One of our video tutorial deals with assembling the individual tiers, tapering the sides, ganaching, and the start of covering with fondant.
PART TWO: In this video, I demonstrate making our bow, I finish covering the tiers with fondant, demonstrate how to cut the wells, stack the tiers, and hammer a sharpened dowel through all three tiers.
PART THREE: This video deals with decorating the three tiers-- Paisleys piped in royal icing, attaching the bow to the middle tier, polka dots for the top tier, and a "16" cake topper!
One more question.....typically I make a cake and the party is the next day so I'm not concerned about freshness. However, the party is on Saturday night and I have to finish the cake on Thursday. Will this cake still be fresh if covered in fondant on Thursday and cut on Saturday night?
Thanks!
Hi Michael, I'm sorry for the delay. Yes, the cake will still be fresh on Saturday. The fondant seals the cake keeping it fresh. I would keep it in a cool area of your home.
Melissa
Thanks so much for the tutorial! I made my first topsy survey cake using your instructions I did a two tier so used your recommendation of a 6/9. I even did the taper. I covered in buttercream - not quite experienced enough with fondant. I am so pleased with the result. I could not have done it without your instructions
Thanks again!
I am so happy to read your comment! That is great, and I'm glad to hear that you had a good experience with frosting the topsy turvy in buttercream! I'm sure lots of our members who prefer buttercream will be happy to read this too. Thanks for your feedback! ;0)
Watching this reminded me of the time I angled the cake top and got distracted from my task and when I returned to the cake my husband had ate the angled piece before I had a chance to flip it onto the cake. Oh the good times.
Oh nooooo! Peggy, that is no good! hahaha
Hello, I was asked to do a cake like the one shown. About how many people will this cake serve and how much should I charge (more for carved cake)? Thanks in advance for your answer.
Hi, we use the Wilton Party Serving Chart, here is a link This chart is found on the homepage under Member Resources in the Helpful Links section. Since the 10" tier is carved to an 8" at the base and the 8" tier carved to a 6" and the 6 inch to a 4" you would get 38 servings. You would charge more for a carved cake, this is definitely a time consuming cake, be sure to factor that in. We never like to quote prices because they vary greatly from one area of the country to another. I would visit or call some local bakeries to find the range of pricing. Good luck with your cake.
Ladies,could I use the lovely white chocolate ganache as my outside icing? No fondant. I can get my color with the candy colors.I am all about the taste and I like the look of fondant but not the texture of it in my mouth. Yours looked so smooth and beautiful, I think thats what I will try.Can I ? Please? Thanks, Nancy P.S. I never would have dreamed to do a cake like this without your clear,precise , video!
Hi Nancy- I think that a ganache version would be just fine! You may need to chill your tiers briefly (maybe 5 minutes in the freezer to make sure the outside is firm) just before stacking to make sure that you can easily handle them with no worries. Let us know how it goes!
Hi Melissa & BeBe,
I made my 1st topsy turvy cake this past weekend. My internet was out for most of the week so I never got to watch the whole tutorial. However I muddled my way through it using your durable cake recipes (white, choc, strawberry). My tiers were 12",10", & 8". My ganache did not turn out right. When I pulled it out of the fridge it still had lumps even though I had strained it & there had been no unmelted white choc pieces. Can I melt it down again & still use it or should I just get rid of it? I will try to post a picture . All in all it turned out pretty well. Those who ate it commented on the moistness of it. Thank you for your tutorial.
Hi Alberta, I am sorry there was a problem. Possibly there were some unmelted bits of chocolate in the bottom of the bowl that didn't get poured through the strainer. The ganache should not form lumps once it is smooth. I have found that using an immersion blender in the melted chocolate and cream is great for smoothing out any bits of chocolate that are not completely melted. Don't get rid of your leftover ganache. You can reheat it slowly, over boiling water, or in the microwave, a few seconds at a time, stirring until the bits of chocolate are melted.