You aren't the only one who is cake-challenged. One Easter I decided to
make a lamb cake, the 3D kind with two halves. Well, instead of clasping the 2 halves together and filling it halfway, I proceeded to fill EACH half halfway, and then stick them together with frosting once they were baked and leveled off.
It actually didn't turn out too bad and probably even took a shorter time to bake, which helped, but the next year, when I read the directions, I felt so dumb ;o)