Layering Cake
Layering cake is a pretty simple process of taking two flat cakes and putting one on top of the other, often times with some sort of frosting or cream between them.
You can just as easily use round cake pans or square cake pans, usually regardless of what the recipe calls for, however you do need to keep in mind the differences in sizes. 8” round pans have a bottom surface area of just about 50 square inches whereas an 8-inch square pan is 64 square inches. This means that if the recipe calls for round pans and you use square, you’re going to end up with thinner layers and if it calls for square and you use round the layers will be thicker. So make sure you adjust cooking time to compensate for the change in layer size.
To achieve a flat-topped layer you will usually have to cut any top humps off all but the top layer (fully cool the cake first), this is to provide a perfectly flat surface to stack the upper layers onto. The easiest way to do this is to use a long, serrated knife, such as a bread knife.
To keep from having to cut off too much of the cake in order to flatten the layers, when the cake batter is in the baking pans tilt the pan back and forth a bit so as to get the batter to ‘climb’ up the sides a little.
You typically want to avoid frosting the cake while it’s still warm as the cake will tear apart more easily.
There really isn't more to it than this, for some good recipes, visit the cake recipes page.
