Looking for a cake recipe

I am making a cake covered with fondant for a party and needed ideas on
what kind of cake to make. I dont want to do chocolate with vanilla
buttercream again. Does anyone have any ideas?
Not everyone likes chocolate, I was thinking a white cake with vanilla
pastry cream and maybe a strawberry filling? Any good recipes out
there?
And, I know im asking A-LOT do I have to cover the cake with
buttercream when using fondant?
What happened was, my little girl wanted this pretty cake she saw in a
magazine, I have worked with fondant before but I just have no idea
what kind of cake to make or what to fill and frost it with.
Help Please....
Please do not send e-mail to the above address, it will bounce!

I like to use a firm cake when I intent to cover it with fondant. I use the basic white cake recipe from the Cake Bible which I can post for you. You also might consider using a pound cake. It is best to put a very thin layer of buttercream over the cake before covering it with fondant. You can also coat it with piping gel which can be purchased at cake decorating stores. A very thin coating of a clear jam or jelly, like apple or apricot, that you have warmed and thinned with a bit of water will also work. The coating helps the fondant stick to the cake.
I would also consider using a carrot cake that is filled with cream cheese frosting. It will be firm and it keeps very well, so you could get the project started a couple days in advance without the cake going stale. I have a great recipe for carrot cake.

A firm cake... Good tip! I dont have the cake bible, shame on me. I was thinking of using a recipe from my professional baking text book, Yes I am in culinary school. But I find that all the formulas are pretty yuck. I always get stuck on ideas. So heres what I have... a white cake (my recipe below) very thin layer of buttercream but what about flavor? the filling? Is it ok to use jam between the layers? Baking is not my forte, im unfortunately not that good at it. But I have to do it to get my advanced cooking degree.
I have lurked in this newsgroup for years and have intercepted alot of great tips!
I have never made this recipe, how do you think it compares to yours?
2 cups ap flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 12 tab unsalted butter 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 tsp vanilla extract 6 large egg whites 3/4 cups milk
Thank you so so so so much!

The formula look about right to me. I would use cake flour, but AP will work. I can post the recipe from the Cake Bible tonight when I have a little more time.
Yes you can use jam between the layers. You can get fruit filling from cake supply stores. Stores in my area carry the Solo brand of cake filling in small cans. I often get bags of apricot, raspberry, pineapple, strawberry, and cherry filling from my local cake supply. Sometimes I put a thin layer of jam and a thin layer of better cream between layers. Sometimes I cut each layer in half and alternate jam and buttercream to create a striped effect when you cut the cake. This also makes the cake higher.

I went to swiss chalet today and bought some strawberry cake filling! I personally would love pineapple apricot... yum!
I finally concluded that I would use the strawberry filling that I purchased and buttercream.
I felt that the pastry cream would not be such a good idea with the length of time it would be sitting out.
I like the idea of stripes! I may try that.
I would love the recipe! For now though I did use the recipe I already had. It turned out good, not as high as I would have liked it though.
Thanks again for your help!