Topsy Turvy Cake w/ Best Pound Cake Recipe EVER!

Shortly before my ADORABLE baby boy was born I decided I needed to hone my baking skills. In the words of Monica from Friends, "I want to be the mom with the best chocolate chip cookies." In my case that didn't mean Nestle Tollhouse (10 points if you understand that reference!), but making cupcakes, cakes, and cookies and different frostings and decorating techniques from scratch. I have to say of all my craft hobbies, this one is the most DE-LICIOUS!

My most recent endeavor was a Topsy Turvy cake for my son's baby blessing celebration. It was only a small-scale luncheon with some family, but I'll take any excuse for a cake! I have been curious about Topsy Turvy cakes for a long time, and literally woke up multiple days planning the one I would make for him. I'm happy to say it was easier than I thought!

(I followed this video tutorial for my steps. )

Carving the cake into the classic shape was pretty easy 

after crumb coating 3 layers of pound cake and sticking it in the fridge to cool. 

I cut out some parchment paper in the shape of the bottom of the top layer, and my husband 

jumped right in to volunteer cutting out that circle from the middle of the bottom layer. 

He then jumped in to eat the part he'd cut out :)

I would suggest making the topsy turvy shape even more prominent than I did. It seemed pretty drastically planed, but, after seeing it decorated, I would have made an even sharper angle at the top and carved in more toward the bottom. But you live and learn, right?

I tried making fondant for the second time for this cake, but it was HORRIBLE! I just can't 

figure it out. Any advice out there? But Buttercream Frosting 

tasted great and looked good, too, since I'm pretty comfortable frosting!

I printed out his name in a fun font, then taped some parchment paper over the print out to use as a stencil. I used thick Royal Frosting to pipe the letters of his name, let it sit for a few hours, then used more of the same frosting to help the now-stiff letter stand up on the cake. 

 I looked up tons of pictures of topsy turvy cakes, but couldn't find any I wanted to replicate for this simple, yet festive, occasion. I decided on sprinkles on my own to accentuate the planes of the two layers. The cake had been in the fridge, so I wet a paper towel and added the areas I wanted to cover so they would stick the hardened frosting. I LOVE how fun it turned out!

The final product!

Pound cake is recommended for tiered cakes that will be carved. It is durable and delicious- the perfect cake for the shaped Topsy Turvy Cake! I looked up many pound cake recipes, and used two variations of this one. It was AMAZING and I'll never use another recipe!

The Best Pound Cake Recipe Ever

INGREDIENTS

3 sticks (1.5 cups) Butter
1 bar (8 oz) Cream Cheese
3 cups White Sugar
6 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
3 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line three 8″ round pans.
2. Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth.
3. Add sugar until light and fluffy (about 5 mins)
4. Add eggs one at a time to creamed mixture, beating well until combined. Mix in vanilla.
5. Combine the flour and salt and sift together. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture in two additions, mixing until just combined.
6. Pour into the prepared tins and bake until golden and tester comes out almost clean (just a few crumbs attached). This will take about an hour or more.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Pound Cake:

Follow all ingredients and directions above, but substitute 3/4 cups of flour with 3/4 cups of cocoa powder. I also substituted hazelnut flavoring for the vanilla, but vanilla would still be great!