Princess Castle Cake

Okay, talk about a rush job!  For some reason, I got it into my head that, because of the snow, Doll Baby's party was going to be postponed...and I neglected to make her cake!  Then yesterday at 3pm I got an email from my Mother In Law, affirming that the party is still on!  So, I started baking like crazy.  By midnight, I had a cake.  Granted, by the end I was exhausted and the turrets could have been smoothed better, but overall, I am pleased with the outcome.  My good ol' hubby took care of Stinkie the whole time!  (Rousing round of applause for my husband!)
This cake is made with the castle setup from Wilton.  I am less than pleased with the directions on the package and the fact that you are supposed to attach 1/4" dowels to the bottom of these heavy tower pieces with frosting.  Yeah, that didn't work.  I shoved the towers into the cake where possible and frosted the heck out of the ones that are set on the cake board.  Wilton's instructions stated to place all the towers, THEN add the gumpaste flowers and decorate.  After trying to put leaves on the top towers while avoiding the other standing towers, I gave up on the directions and built as I went.  There are something like 250 gumpaste flowers on this cake, and more than 700 piped leaves.

There are a few things I will do differently next time.  I will cover the turrets with fondant (buttercream was a PAIN in the rear).  The set comes with a pattern for cutting it.  The bottom layer needs to be tall enough for the door, which stood almost 1/2" above the top of that layer.  The bottom layer is about 4.5" tall...so I guess it's a three layer cake.  I had to draw on the door.  Also, there is a pointy roof thing that was too deep to fit in the 2" space left around the top tier.  I think I will not center the cake in order to leave enough room.
I had a pain of a time baking the cakes.  I used my regular recipe.  6c of batter in the 10" pan, 2c of batter in the 6" pan.  It took an hour for the 10" cake to bake!  It ended up rather overcooked on the outside and undercooked in the middle!  I must get myself one of those core heat distributer things.
It was an experience and I did enjoy it.  But soon I need to make another cake, a very special cake for my very special Husband!  His birthday is the 9th!