Newbie here -- help with a two tier cake please?

Hi Michelle…….welcome to cakes decor! ;-)
Ive been decorating for 10 years now, but still just a hobby baker…….
With this cake I would bake an 8" and a 6" round cakes, leave them overnight wrapped in cling film (after cooling). Make sure your tiers are quite tall, if i want extra height i bake a seperate shallow cake in a victoria sponge tin (of same diameter) to give me extra to play with. Ive never frozen my carved cakes, so the next day I would have my filling ready, I recommend choc ganache over buttercream for it will give extra stability. Then split and fill the cake and refrigerate for a good few hours, the filling will firm up nicely.
To carve these I would make a circle template about 1" smaller than the cake, place it in the centre and carve downwards and out in a diagonal line from this circle and do this all the way around the cake, to make the wonky shape. Then, crumb coat the whole cake and fridge again, then add a second fine coat of ganche/buttercream and refrigerate a final time.
To then cover with fondant I would dust my worktop with icing sugar, roll my fondant out to a circle thats a good 4-5 inches wider than the top of the cake. Making sure it doesnt stick to your surface, then, carefully lift the fondant over the cake and centre it. Get the top on first pushing out any air bubbles and gradually working from the top keep going round the cake rubbing the fondant downwards.
Use a fondant smoother for great results, then trim off your edges with a pizza cutter.
Ive babbled on a lot, but I hope this helps……anymore questions dont hesitate to ask.
Oh one more thing. Practice covering a dummy or something if you can, cos it can take a bit of practice and you kind of get a knack for covering with fondant the more you do it! ;-)))

Sugar Magic – Thank thank thank you for all your advice. I’m working on the cake tonight. My customer asked for vanilla buttercream frosting. Can I do a white chocolate ganache instead of chocolate so you think. I’ve heard it’s a little harder to make a white chocolate gananche and I have not tried it.

Also do you think it would be ok to use a 9" pan for bottom or should I stick with the 8" and do three layers or 4,

Thats what i meant…….white ganache, but, i would stick with what you know and make the buttercream, if thats what the customer wants, it will firm up in the fridge nice anyway……experiment with white choc ganache another time. There are tons of recipes for it just google and look on you tube……

A 9" will be fine, you can do 3 or 4 layers, i just think cakes of this style look a lot better with taller tiers.
And remember to try and do a practice run with covering the fondant before you do the actual cake, take your time with it.

Christine – I wanted to share the final cake with you and thank you again for all your tips.
I ended up using a 9" pan and did 4 layers on the bottom tier and used a 6" deep pan on the top tier and made 3 layers.
I had a bear of a time covering it with the fondant though because of the odd shape. I kept getting creases on the bottom and did end up with a few in the back that I told the customer about and she said it was no problem since no one would see the back anyway. Overall the customer was happy and I challenged myself to do something that I thought I could never do. I may stick with cupcakes for awhile though and leave the cake art to those of you who do it so well :)

Wow Michelle!
Its fantastic! I love it!
This is your first fondant covered cake…….no…….I cant believe it!
I’m really glad I could help you, I remember when I was starting out asking so many questions of everyone on here. This is what we are all here for!
And dont worry about those creases at the bottom, it always goes that way with the gathered fondant. I still get them now. Trick is to take your time and rub the fondant down bit by bit.
Never mind the cuppies……keep on caking, youre brilliant!
So glad I could help……just ask xx

Btw, you must add this cake in the cakes section, not just on this post.
Its the +new button on the top right of the screen……add your picture, title, description and tags and youre away! ;-)

Thank you so much Christine. I did add my cake to the boards. I will try to post some of my cupcake photos as well. I am also following you now. Your cakes are amazing btw. :)