This one, if you’re curious. But I’ve never made a layer cake before and I’m kinda nervous.
I have to take the first layer and put it on a plate, and then I have to take the second layer and put it on the first layer, and then I have to take the third layer and put it on the second layer.
That’s three possible steps I can screw up.
How do you pick up a layer without it crumbling into little tiny bits and, if it does crumble into little tiny bits, what do you do then?
I tried to make a “castle” birthday cake for my daughter once. It involved cutting layers of cake into different shapes, sticking them together with frosting, and then covering the whole thing with yet more frosting. How hard could it be? I thought. Ha.
As my brother told me, though, it wasn’t a complete failure. After all, there are castles all over Europe that look a lot like the cake did by the time I gave up and made a run to the bakery.
You, on the other hand, have a much better chance of success. First, your cake is going to be very dense, which will make it easier to handle and less likely to crumble. Be sure the cake layers are completely cool before you try to do anything with them. If you’re worried about a layer falling apart when you pick it up, you can put a paper plate over it while it’s on the wire rack, then flip it over, rack and all, and peel the rack away. Don’t try to slide the layers; that’s when you get crumbling.
If a layer crumbles into reasonably large bits, you can stick the pieces together with frosting. This, however, is the beginning of the end, so before trying it you’ll want to make sure that your frosting is fairly soft and your cake is very cool.
If it’s a complete disaster and everything falls apart, you can always crumble the cake into a large bowl and layer it with chocolate mousse. As I discovered with the castle cake, no matter how bad it looks, cake is cake and it still tastes good. I suspect you’ll do just fine with the original recipe, though.
Good luck!
I discussed my birthday cake adventure here.
The cake itself is here.
Okay, if you’re done laughing at my cake… It actually tasted very good! 
<Wicked Witch of the West>I’m mellllllllllllting!</WWotW> :eek:
Internet Legend, my mother tells a similar story about a house she tried to make for a housewarming party…apparently the chimney did NOT want to stay on.
Anyhow…the first layer was a breeze…these things are about like bricks. I just hope it tastes all right.
Johnny L.A., your cake would look like a downright masterpiece next to mine. I know I have pictures somewhere, but it was made in the pre-digital-camera era, so they are no doubt in a shoebox somewhere. This is a fair approximation, only mine slid over to the side a little more.
chique, I’m keeping a good thought for your cake.
Internet Legend, I’ve just discovered that the filling part is positively orgasmic and no longer care how the cake itself turns out. 
The main trick to doing layer cakes is to make sure you completely cool the cakes before doing anything to them. This seems to be a pretty foolproof cake–the layers are going to be dense so they shouldn’t break when transferring them, and since it’s glazed, rather than frosted, you don’t need to worry about a crumb layer. Ach, don’t worry, it’s going to taste really good–and that’s what’s important.
Done.
The layers flipped over just fine.
The filling made me come (and the recipe didn’t make enough for what I needed - had to make another batch. And I have leftovers. Oh, darn. ).
The glaze is better.
It’s now in the fridge.
I’m hungry.
And I can’t cut into it for at least three hours 
Oh, my.
That was good.
That was REALLY good.
Except the recipe lied. Sixteen servings my ass; more like 36.
My tummy hates me.
The fact that the calorie count on this cake is 666 shoulda been a clue…
