Up is down and back is front

I am a little delayed in getting this post to you, like maybe 6 weeks delayed. Work is my only excuse and who really wants to hear excuses. Once again my most wonderful friend Brook came to the rescue and let me have free reign and try all sorts of new things I've been thinking about doing. Namely a mad hatter / topsy turvy / whimsical cake (whatever name you know it by) and a standing up bow that I saw a Planet Cake tutorial on.

Since I was making this cake for Brook on her birthday I decided to channel her brilliance and go by feel/instinct without too much planning or over thinking (as I tend towards more often).

This cake presented issues right from the beginning... not enough cake. I had originally planned to make it 3 tier (yes, a little ambitious) but the cake layers I baked were a little too short for that.
My options.... go to supermarket and make a third batch of cakes, make short cakes or come up with a sneaky master plan. Considering my lack of time, I opted for the sneaky master plan).

So maybe not so sneaky, I just decided to take my six individual cakes and instead of 3 tiers with 2 layers in each, 2 tiers with 3 layers in each... get it? But to complicate things I have one carrot and one lemon cake of each size. So which cake goes where? How do I match them up?
Arrgghhhh... brain explosion!!!!!

Ok, ok - deep breath and do the math - two small and one medium, one medium and two large. now what combo... two carrort and one lemon, two lemon and one carrot???

Next to do what should feel completely wrong, go from a level and straight sided cake to a carved up crooked sculpture... and hopefully not a big hot mess. Now I've watched quite a few tutorials on this but actually doing it is a little frightening.

You can see how my last minute change in tiers is having a bit of an impact on my efforts in this step of the process... is this really going to work? Oh and the reason you're seeing pictures of my fridge is that for this type of cake in particular its really important to chill it down so it all stays in one piece and is far easier to ice.

This cake has confused me on so many levels and in so many ways already... its like a puzzle and if I put the pieces in the wrong way it will be all the wrong kinds of topsy turvy.

The of course, this happened. No explanation necessary really, things just went to sh%t. Alas, more deep breaths and I recovered from that one as well.

Putting it all together... the top layer is just barely sitting inside the top of the bottom layer, but it was yet another 'make it work' moment.

The final product (despite the slightly incorrect sizing of the top layer, as you may have noticed) is actually kinda cool. If I had a do-over, yes I would have gotten the top layer the right size, but I also would have probably done the colour scheme a little differently too.

I know what to do better next time... I know how to make it perfect, which is exactly what I needed out of this cake. Clearly its all about the planning and the math.
Oh and the final drama that I should mention.... there was a slight cake accident in the car on the way to the party. I couldnt bring myself to take a photo of it - it was another deep breathing moment.

I realise this all sounds like a train wreck, but in reality, learning can be a bit of a train wreck. I learnt a tonne and at the end of the day I turned up with a big tasty cake and a bit of a story to go with it.