this cake idea i think originally came from a Wilton cake book- i am not sure which book though. i decided to do a Strawberry Shortcake themed birthday for my daughter's 2nd birthday this past weekend and had looked up cake ideas online. some of the notes on versions of this cake said it was from a Wilton cake book.
the bottom tier is a 12"x3" round pound cake, frosted with white cream cheese tub frosting, with tinted pink cream cheese frosting swirls piped around the sides. the second tier is a 9"x3" round pound cake with the white cream cheese tub frosting. the top tier is a 6"x3" pound cake tinted green with pink strawberry-flavored tub frosting. the rest of the designs are done in a homemade marshmallow fondant, tinted to each color- green, pink, and red. the balls around each tier, the stripes, the polka dots, and the "blankets" over each cake are done in the fondant. the topper was a McDonald's toy my mom had saved to give to my girls; my sister happened to bring it over just a few days before the party and since i hadn't been able to find a Strawberry Shortcake cake topper or candle, i decided that toy was perfect :D
time listed is estimated- the bottom cake took over an hour and a half to bake using 5 flower nails, and a reduced oven temp. the middle tier took almost an hour and a half to bake using 4 flower nails, and the top cake took a little over an hour to bake using 3 flower nails (if you've never heard of using flower nails, look it up- it helps the cake bake evenly and thoroughly, so you don't have to lop off so much of the cake to level it out). then add in cooling time, frosting time, making the fondant (i had to make 2 batches). it actually took me about 4 days to get it all together since i have 2 kids of my own and i babysit my baby nephew- time is hard to come by around here!