Topsy Turvy Cakes add a whimsical touch to any celebration. These tilted cakes may look architecturally confusing, but they are surprisingly easy to create! I’ll walk you through the process in this tutorial.
For each tier I baked 3 layers of cake that were 2” tall. I always use a pound cake or doctored cake mix for any cake that will be carved. Each layer had a dam of icing, filling and stacked on the next layer. You can fill a Topsy Turvy cake with the same fillings you would use on a stacked or torted cake. Just make sure to use a stiff consistency icing to dam your cake. Topsy Turvy cakes can also be made using other shapes. I have made a 3 tier square cake, and I would like to try an oval cake.
Each tier was a different flavour and filling. The tiers were 10”, 8”, and 6” tall. When this is complete, all 3 cakes are put in the freezer to firm up before cutting. If you want to start out by making a practice cake, I would use a 10” cake on the bottom and 6” on the top. Two tiers will give you the practice you want and show the effect of a Topsy Turvy cake.
After removing each tier from the freezer I can begin cutting. The top of each tier is cut using a long, thin, serrated knife. I begin by cutting in the middle of one side of the top tier and angling the knife strokes up towards the top of the other side of that tier. You can take off as much or as little as you wish. For these cakes, I started in the middle of each layer, about 1” from the top and cut across at an angle to the top of the other side. The cut sections were lifted off using the Wilton cake lifter and placed onto a cake board for later use. It is much easier to cut these cakes when they are frozen or very cold out of the fridge.
Now apply a small amount of thin buttercream icing to the cut portion of the cake and slide the cut piece back onto the cake. Turn the piece around so that the 2 thick pieces of cake are touching. This will make one side of your cake approximately 5” tall, and the higher side will be around 7” tall.
After this, all 3 tiers were covered with thin buttercream icing for my crumb coat. The cakes then went back in the freezer or fridge to chill for a while.
The tiers were then covered in fondant. On the top of the 10” tier I placed an 8” cake board, and on top of the 8” cake I placed a 6” board. This will show me where to cut into the top of the cake to level it off. I centered the cake board on the tier and using a small thin knife I cut straight down into the top of my cake around the outside of the board. Only cut about 1” deep at this time. After the cut has been made, carefully lift off the piece of fondant you cut out, starting from the low side of the cake.
A Topsy Turvy cake can be covered in fondant or buttercream. After you have covered the cake with buttercream icing, decorate it any way you want, either with buttercream accents or use fondant at this point. Be very careful not to smudge the buttercream. I find fondant a little more forgiving at this point.
The idea here is to start at the low side and cut vertically across making a flat surface for the next tier to sit on. Just remove small pieces at a time. I find using my small thin off-set spatula helps at this point. It will cut through the cake and also allow you to get underneath the cut section to help you lift it out. Dowels are now inserted into the cut-out section and a small layer of buttercream icing is put over the cut areas. This whole process is done on both the bottom tier and the middle tier.
Carefully put the 8” tier into the hole you have made on top of the 10” cake. This is where cake being cold, and covered with fondant makes it a little easier to work with. When you are placing the next tier into position, turn the tier so that the top of that tier is on the opposite side of the bottom tier. Continue this process with the 8” cake being carved out and the small 6” tier is placed in the opening. I also dowel the middle tier as well before I put the top tier on. When all 3 tiers are stacked, I insert 1 long sharpened dowel rod through all 3 tiers and into the bottom of the base tier to help keep the cake stable during transportation.
After all 3 tiers are stacked and dowel rods are inserted, decorate your cake in the design of your choice!
Open a new world of decorating possibilities for your cakes. Learn more about cake decorating, from the basics to advanced techniques, in a Wilton Method Class.
Susan found her passion in cake decorating about 13 years ago. She was approached to be on the Training Team about 10 years ago and has held this position proudly for the last 10 years. Other than her family, nothing gives her more pleasure than creating a beautiful cake for someone’s special occasion. After trying many crafts over the years, pottery, oil painting, jewellery making, this was the one she kept coming back to. Susan lives in Toronto, Canada. 
Finished cake looks beautiful, however I must say….when I used this method for a topsy turvy cake IT WAS A DISASTER! The only cake disaster to date.
I have made topsy turvy cakes in the past without the carving out of the top tier. I believe the carving made the side weak and in transporting, one entire side of the cake separated from the cake.
I will not use that method again. But you have a great tutorial.
Ditto. The tutorial is simple to follow, but when I tried it with 2 layers, the side of the bottom layer fell off (fondant and all) once it warmed up.
The only disaster cake I had was a topsy turvy cake as well. It was for my new step grandson’s 17th birthday and his first birthday since joining our family. He was so very gracious knowing the time and effort I had put into the cake. BUT I learned a valueable lesson that day. I will never transport an assembled stacked cake again. I will leave early and assemble it at the function. I wouldn’t transport a tiered wedding cake and should have known better to try to attempt doing that with a topsy turvy cake.
Susan your are very talented.
Mine also wrecked. Same deal as the rest of you, one side completely fell off, so then of course the top fell off too. I also made the mistake of trying to transport it stacked, never again.
Please forgive me but! could you explain to me what a dowel is?… and how i would insert it into the frozen or cold cake so i hopefully would not have any problems Thanks
) Sandy
A dowel is a peg of wood (or other material) used to hold structures together. In my cake classes, we used wooden dowels b/c that’s what was available at the cake decorating stores. They come in ALL sorts of diameters and length and can be subsequently cut to be the exact height of your cake. When you insert the dowel, you literally push it into the cake from the top until it hits the bottom. You can use your finger to eyeball the height and then use a small saw to cut the dowel to that length before reinserting one last time for stability.
Hope that helps!
I found this method great however, I cover the cake in fondant AFTER I carve out the tops of each cake. It makes the sides more stable I find
Otherwise I follow all the same steps! 
I’ll try that next time. Also, how thin do you roll your findant?
I love these cakes. I will be trying it in the future.
One issue with the cake sliding off maybe because a dowel rod was not insert down through all three tiers. This would prevent shift. I have delivered a stacked fondant covered wedding cake up a hill and the tiers stayed in place.
i use a dowl in all my tier cakes and never have trouble
the cake looks great good job
when you stack your cakes do you leave them on the cake board?
if not,what is the easiest method to get the cakes off of the board without damaging the cake?
do you place the dowel through all three cakes or through each section?
From what I read & understand of stabilizing cakes, you insert dowels (probably 4 per each layer in a square pattern), into each of the bottom layers. Then, when the final layer is placed on top, the final dowel–long enough to go through all layers and to the bottom of the base cake–goes dierctly through the center of the cake, acting as a stabilizer to hold everything into place, and as the dowels in the other layers are in a square pattern, the final, center dowel should not hit any of them on the way through to the bottom of all that cake. Hope this helps & if I’m wrong anywhere in here, I hope someone will correct me.
Way to go Susan! So proud to know you, and thankful that you’ve been my wonderful WMI Trainer for many years! (and many more to go!). This is exactly how I make my topsy turvy cakes, thanks for confirming this
I agree completely with Prudence !! Great to see your blog and look forward to seeing both of you at the next WMI..
Can you do this technique without using fondant to cover the cakes?, ie., will it work just using buttercream?
I am new to cake decorating. Although I have made cakes for my children all their lives, I am now taking the Wilton Cake Decorating Class. I will have my first course completed this Tuesday. I feel confident that can tackle a Topy-Turvy cake. My daughter is turning 18 in 3 weeks and I am considering making one for her just to try it out. After all, they have been my guiney pigs for trying my “new experiences” for years now! LOL! I am currently researching techniques before I start. If anyone has any suggestions or advice, please share.
HI, LIKED THE TUTORIAL, BUT I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO THE CAKE BOARDS WHEN STACKING, DO YOU LEAVE THE CAKE BOARDS UNDER THE MIDDLE AND TOP TIERS OR DO YOU STACK THEM WITHOUT CAKE BOARDS.
you leave them.
Leave boards in. I usually use I size smaller when stacked. ie: use 6 inch under an 8 inch because they fit perfectly if you shave your cake edges. It adds stability for me. I usually line them up and cut a small hole for the dowel. The hole is usually a tad bit smaller than the dowel so that it will fit snug. I like to use plastic rods for that and wooden or plastic between the layers. If your cake is tall look in the art section of your local craft store and grab a thick and long wooden art dowel, just clean it first!!!
I tried this before. Be sure your cake isn’t crumbly. Make a firmer cake, then it should turn out alright.
This tutorial is great! can’t wait to try it for my granddaughters birthday. Thanks!
On the last step when you dowel the middle tier, do you just dowel the middle teir, or do you make the dowels long enough to go all the way to the bottom teir as well.
I’m new at this, and wondering how 3 peices of dowelling in one teir can hold a cake together?
Also, how can the dowelling help from the layers underneath the top layer from crushing? The top layers still sit on the layer underneath correct?
Am I being daft or what am I missing here?
Thanks for any help!
The bottom layer has 4 dowels in it. On top of that layer is a cardboard. That cardboard sitting on top of the dowels is holding the next layer cake up from squishing the bottom layer. Those dowels is keeping the top layer from flattening the bottom layer. Each layer is handled that way. It’s like building a house on a table using a deck of cards (when we were kids). You have to use those cardboards otherwise the dowels will just poke into the next layer and it will all sink. Must use both dowels and cardboards to make it work.
Hope that helps.
d do you premake the holes? Do you shrpen the dowels?
Can you use buttercream in lieu of fondant? If so, how does that work? Wouldn’t it be more difficult to “disable” the cake when your ready to eat it? Also, when using the dowels, do you put one dowel into both layers (2 tier cake) and be sure it goes all the way down to the cake boards?
Mine “wrecked” as well. I made a 4 tier baby shower cake and as mentioned above once it warmed up, one of the layers came apart and fell to the floor about 10 minutes into the shower. I felt HORRIBLE. Though I believe mine maybe have been due to the fact that I used homemade choc cake with PB filling as the 2nd layer and it was pretty moist. I also hauled it in my car assembled( 5-10 mph) 3 miles to the shower destination. I used the cake Stacker systerm ( AWESOME) and it kept it from falling over but the vibration of the car ride must’ve weakened the sides of the choc layer. I have to make a 3 tiered for this weekwnd and will most likely put it together at the party. Awesome tutorial though!
I need to make a two tier topsy turvy cake firstly do I need to put a dowel from top to bottom or only between each tier. Secondly can I use store brought cake mix will it hold
Would you make a square topsy turvy cake the same way?
Hi everyone,
I’m relatively new to cake decoration and sugarcraft – I’m almost a year doing it now and am totally addicted!
love this tutorial. I’m making my 1st 3 tier topsy turvey cake next week for a joint 21st party. I’ve only made 1 previous stacked cake before and had trouble cutting the dowels first of all. What is the best tool for this to get a good clean cut?
Also I’ve been asked to do the bottom tier of this topsy turey cake as chocolat biscuit so I presume this would have to be carved before the cake completely sets?
I would appreciate any help.
Cheers
Jane
i love the topsy turvy cakes, i will try one for my grand daughter’s birthday later this month she will be 18years of age.
How do you put the full length dowel through the entire cake if cake boards are used? How do you know where to push it down if the top cake is placed on top?
You sharpen one side and put it through the middle of the cake, when it hits the cardboard I use a hammer to pound it through. I also make sure it goes through the base (I use 2 1/2 inch thick wood for the base) That way it adds a little more stability. If your trying to deliver a stacked cake, I find it is waaay too stressful so I just assemble it at the place. Hope I helped =D Have fun!
Does anyone know how to doctor a cake nix to make it firm? Not crumbly? In addition, how do I find cake recipes that comeout firm for tiering and cutting?
It’s so easy, your actually making a pound cake when you doctor up a cake mix. Which is awesome for stacked cakes. All you do is add one extra egg and any flavor of powdered pudding mix. You use the smaller box. And honestly I’ve been told by my customers that it’s the best cake they’ve ever had. I find using a mix is way easier then using a recipe…i’ve never found a good enough recipe for the kinds of cakes I do. I hope I helped =D Have fun!
So you add one extra egg and a box of jello for each box of cake mix?
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I made my first topsy-turvy last weekend…. spent 8 hours on it between baking, decorating, making frosting and homemade fondant and then cutting out lots of little delicate snowflakes with an x-acto knife… then I found today out that after I delivered it, the top tier broke apart and fell off before the party started later that afternoon. I. Feel. SICK.
I used a doctored cake mix, but I guess the road vibration from transporting the assembled cake was just too much, and the tall side of the top tier is what broke apart and fell off. 
How many serving does this cake serve??
I’m making a three tiered topsy turvy wedding cake at the end of the month, and even though this tutorial made it seem so easy, the comments have me really worried. I’m not positive how I would assemble it at the function, as each tier will have a fondant ribbon around the cake and draping down alternating sides. Any suggestions? Would it be easier for me to find a different tutorial, if this weakens the sides?
Hi every one ,loved reading all your tips and advice .would love to have the courage to make a topsy turvey cake for my daughters wedding next year.if I thought I could make the mixture of a Christmas cake I would chance it. Dose anyone know if that would work .Reading all the comments and what can go wrong I will not be doing a sponge mixture .Regards Ann
Loved all your comments
I have only done one topsy cake and it fell apart
But used a cake mix
Won’t be doing that again
Got to do another one in may
Will make a solid pound cake
Dowels, prayers etc
And will assemble at the venue
Can’t deal with the stress
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I’ve only made one 3 tier topsey turvey but have to make another one for an 18th in 2 weeks. I used shop bought cake mixes on the first one – White wings raspberry swirl for bottom tier, Greens butter cake for 2nd tier and Greens Chocolate cake for top tier. I used dowels in the 1st and second tiers but didn’t put a centre dowel down through all three tiers. My ‘customer’ picked the totally assembled cake up and had to transport it a little over an hour away and it all stayed in one piece – thank goodness! I’m just praying that the next one will do the same as that also has to travel about an hour and a half away.