Three-Tier, Six-Layer Special Occasion Cake

This recipe uses cake mixes. But it's a fast way to make an impressive cake that will serve 70 people at a special event if you cut thin slices and cake mixes rarely go wrong. With the stress of baking perfect cake layers out of the way, experiment with your cake decorating techniques.

The recipe is from Cooking for a Crowd, published  in 1969, by Annette Laslett Ross and Jean Adams Disney. It requires 4 layer cake mixes and 3 sizes of round cake pans.

To make assembly quick and easy, buy 6 and 9-inch cake boards, 1 of each. They are usually sold in packs of ten or more from baking supply stores. Taller cakes can tip over, to prevent this, purchase cake dowels and insert these from the top down through the cake layers before frosting. Watch an online video on assembling a tiered cake with dowels.

To mix cake mix flavors, buy 2 boxes of one flavour, two boxes of another. Each slice will have a layer of each flavor, so they need to taste good together, like chocolate and vanilla. Mix one flavour in the first step and the second flavour in the second step.

The frosting is homemade and uses 3 pounds of icing sugar so be prepared to make it in batches and don't overload your mixing bowl.

Tint some of the icing to pipe decorations, like icing roses. Purchase  piping bags and the right piping tips for your decorations. Check out cake decorating videos for inspiration.

Ingredients:

• 4 cake mixes and extra ingredients listed on box, usually eggs, oil, milk, water.
• 3 round cake pans: a 12-inch, a 9-inch, a 6-inch
• cake boards or cardboard cut into rounds and topped with parchment paper circles
• Icing for 4 cake layers or see recipe below.

Step One

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease and flour one 12-inch, one 9-inch and one 6-inch round pan.
3. Make batter using TWO cake mixes as directed on the packages.
4. If you have a stand mixer and a large mixing bowl, you can mix two cake mixes at one time, but beat the mixture 1-1/2 times longer than the beating time for 1 cake.
5. Divide the batter evenly among the 3 cake pans. Pans should be 1/2 to 2/3 full of batter, no more or less. If you have cake pan wraps for even baking, moisten and put these on so the cakes bake flatter, without a hump in the middle of the layers.
6. If you have a double oven, you can bake all the layers at once. If you don't have room, refrigerate the layer(s) you are not yet baking.
7. Bake the 12-inch layer on the middle rack of the preheated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or till the top springs back when lightly touched and pick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean. Remove from oven.
8. Cool on rack for 10 minutes, then remove cake from pan and continue to cool on rack.
9. Place the 9-inch layer at the back of the middle rack in a preheated 350 degree oven and the 6-inch layer on the same rack, at the front.
10. Bake the 6-inch layer for 25-30 minutes, remove from oven, cool on rack 10 minutes, remove from pan and continue to cool on rack.
11. Bake the 9-inch layer for 30-35 minutes, remove from oven, cool on rack 10 minutes, remove from pan and continue to cool on rack.

Step Two: 

1. Wipe out and re-grease and flour the cooled baking pans. 
2. Repeat Step One, using the remaining two boxes of cake mix.

Assembly:

You should now have six cooled layers of cake: two 12-inch layers, two 9-inch layers, and two 6-inch layers. 

Flat layers of cake are easy to stack and frost. So that they balance well when you're assembling the tiers, cut the rounded top off each layer with a serrated knife, leveling the layer. 

1. Place one of the 12-inch layers on the plate or tray on which you will serve the cake.
2. Frost the top, then put the second 12-inch layer on top of it.
3. Frost the sides and top. 
4. Center a 9-inch cake board (or waxed cardboard circle) on top of the 12-inch layers.
5. Put a 9-inch layer on top of the cake board.
6. Frost the top, then put the second 9-inch layer on top of it.
7. Frost the sides and top. Now you have a two-tiered cake.
8. Center a 6-inch cake board (waxed cardboard circle) on top of the two-tiered cake.
9. Repeat as above with the 6-inch cake layers.

White Frosting Recipe for a Six-Layer Cake

• 3 pounds of icing/confectioners sugar (three 1-lb packages)
• 2 cups sifted cake flour
• 4 cups white vegetable shortening (Crisco)
• 1 cup unbeaten egg whites (separate 8-10 eggs)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. almond flavoring + 1 tsp lemon flavoring OR 2 tsp clear vanilla extract

1. If you don't  have a commercial mixer, make half the recipe at a time (1-1/2 pounds sugar, 1 cup cake flour, 2 cups shortening, 1/2 cup egg whites, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp flavoring)
2.  Combine ingredients in a large bowl of electric mixer, beat till smooth and creamy.
3. Make a second batch of icing if you've made half the recipe.
4. After frosting the cake, spoon remaining icing into a pastry bag and use to decorate the cake if desired.

Cutting:

1. Use a sharp cake knife. If the cake has been stored in a refrigerator, cutting will be easier if you run the knife under hot water, dry it, then cut the cold cake with the warm knife.
2. Start at the bottom layer. Slice vertically to the edge of the middle layer above. Cut around that middle layer. Slice wedges from the bottom layer and serve.
3. Once the bottom layer is served, slice the middle layer in the same way, first cutting to the edge of the 6" layer above, then around it. Be careful not to cut through the cardboard below, when you slice the wedges of cake. Serve the middle layer.
4. Slice around the bottom layer again, to the edge of the three 6" layers that now remain above it.
5. The cake is now a tall, teetering 6-inch diameter cake. To cut the remainder, work carefully, slicing the top layer first. Work down toward the bottom, discarding the cardboard circles (and removing dowels if you've used them) as you go.