My (enormous) ruffle cake

I've admired Martha's ruffle cake forever and after seeing it pop up at parties around the blogesphere, I knew I had to try it. We hosted a birthday party for my mother-in-law this weekend so it was the perfect time to give it a shot. I found this video and being a very visual learner, it was extremely helpful. I doubled my cake recipe and made 3 1 1/2 9" layers. I started out with a doubled recipe of Swiss meringue buttercream and ran out with about 1/4 of the cake and the top unfrosted. A third batch (of not quite matching pink buttercream) did the trick.
This cake definitely gives you a big bang for your buck! The method is really simple and quick and the finished product is quite impressive. I decorated it directly on my cake stand which I think was a smart move. I can't imagine trying to transfer the cake once it was piped with pounds of frosting. If I made it again, I would definitely use a smaller tip (I used 121 petal tip) because the amount of frosting was ridiculous - adding about 3" in diameter to this already massive cake.