Considering I got no replies to my earlier post asking how these pans are, I guess I'm the only one on cake central who was stupid enough to buy these. So I just tested them out right now and here is my review:

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!! I really wish I hadn't

The baking was totally uneven, with the shorter side dry and rock-hard while the taller side took FOREVER to bake all the way through. Let me mention here that I am not an amateur baker, nor was my recipe flawed/untested, nor did I do anything wrong. These pans are seriously a big waste of money, a very poorly designed product, and a total rip-off. I really did not expect this from a company like fat daddio because their regular pans are excellent.

I wish I could get my hard earned money back. Anyone who has their own cake business knows how hard it is in the beginning when all your profits go directly to buying supplies, so please please please don't repeat my mistake.

I am so disappointed right now....

I didn't know what a mad dadder pan was so I looked it up and was curious if it came with instructions on how to bake the cake evenly. Because logically if one side has more batter than the other it would be done on one side while the other was still raw..right?

Yes mena, I wish I had used the same logic before purchasing them. I really thought the manufacturer would've thought about this and designed the pan in a way that this problem could be prevented.. Apparently not...

I'm sorry this happened to you but I'm glad you posted your experience so that others can learn from this too

God I feel for you, it is always really hard to know what new products to buy to enhance your business and then to have something fail so badly you must be gutted.

I really hope you go back to the manufacturer and give them your feedback and I would ask them for a refund or explanation of how exactly the cake is meant to be cooked so it's even. If they are selling it they must have tested it surely!

Hmmm...I thought about buying those pans too....Sorry about the wasted money but I do appreciate the feedback about the pans...

I don't know if this will work but try putting aluminum foil on the smaller half side of the pan and see if that helps keeping it from cooking faster than the other side. Definitely contact the company.

Thanks for the warning, mena. I'm sorry it was at such a huge expense to you.

This is so upsetting...I just purchased these pans & got them in the mail yesterday!
Uggghh

Maybe you could try putting a heating core on the deep end of the pan and cover the shallow end of the pan.

Thanks for the heads up! I have been considering buying these pans for a couple of months now, and after seeing your post, I think I will hold off! I'm so sorry for your loss of investment! I KNOW that is SO FRUSTRASTING! I hope you can find a succesful way to use them! I you do, please let us know! GOOD LUCK!

I have those pans. I don't have a problem with baking uneven. However they do take about 5 minutes longer. Other than the longer time they come out just the same as my other pans.

mplaidgirl2 how do you bake them? I'm curious because I ordered these pans last week and should be getting them soon. It does make sense to use a heating core or a flower nail in the deeper end I may have to try that.

Well if someone had a good experience with these, I really would like to hear more about it..

I also don't think it's safe to stack the cakes this way.. as I said in my original post, a hand-carved topsy turvy cake has a FLAT base for each tier to sit on and merely LOOKS like the tiers are slanted. With these pans, the tiers really ARE slanted and could slide right off of one another. If a topsy turvy cake was that easy to assemble, all you would have to do is slice off a chunk of your cakes at an angle and stack them on top of each other. That is essentially what this pan does. This is something I should've thought of before buying them.

As for the uneven baking, I totally blame the company. The pans should be designed in a way that the cakes bake even. If heating cores and what not are needed, the pans should come with them and special instructions on how to use them.

Anyway, this was just my honest feedback and I hope it helped. Those of you who just purchased them, I advise you to leave them in the packaging and send them right back. I am going to contact the company but considering I have already used them and don't have my receipt, I'm not sure what good it'll do. But I do know that if they do not compensate me in some way, I won't be buying from them again because this was an expensive purchase and the product is clearly flawed.

Gee...I almost considered buying them. Thanks for posting your experience.

I own these pans and my experience has been totally different. It took some experimenting but I do not have any problems like you did. I own the round pans and I use flower nails and heating core on a couple. Here is what I have found works for me:

6" round pan--I use 2 flower nails in the deep end of the pan. I bake at 300 degrees.
8" pan--I use 3 or 4 njails and also bake at 300 degrees
10" round- I use 4 nails in the deep end and bake at 300
12" round--I tried with the nails but just baked last weekend with a heating core and WOW what a differnce. I also bake at 300. The heating core made a huge differnce.
14" round-- Only used it once so far and used a heating core and baked at 300, but I turned the heat down to 285 towards the end. I think the next time I will bake it at 285 to 290 with the core and see how that helps.

Overall, I am very happy with the pans. I would definitely try them again using the nails and core cause I think your experience would be better. I know of a few others who also bought them and have been happy too. I hope this helps.

Samar523 - you would still need to carve 1/4" or so into the tops of each one so that the tier sitting on top would sit level just like the "old fashioned topsy turvy way"

CakesbyLee - thank you for sharing! I can't wait to get mine and try them now!

I too own these pans and haven't had a problem with them. I did use the large flower nail in them though and cooked a little cooler and longer.

I don't regret buying them. Sorry the OP did not have good luck.

Well I just wish the pans had come with the details you have provided about heating cores and lowering the temp.. Since I do want to be able to use them now that I have bought them, I will try your method CakesbyLee. Thanks so much for your help!

Paula, you are right -- the cakes do require some carving.. I'm just wondering what the point is then of using them rather than just doing a little more carving on a regular shaped cake? At least you won't face so many issues with baking, right? My point is, I don't think they are worth the money or anything that special now that I have used them. They don't make the topsy-turvy cake significantly easier in any way.

I never even considered buying these pans. I took one look at them and thought "How could you possibly cook evenly, even with the help of the cores?" and my second thought was "If I'm carving and cutting anyways, why bother? It doesn't seem to be any easier."

CakesbyLee seems to have a good system down though. Awesome!

I will agree that I was disappointed that they didn't come with any kind of directions or tips for use. Maybe the word will get back to them and they will start including that in the packaging for future sales.

I just used this pan set for my first topsy turvy cake and I didn't have any problems with it. I didn't have to use the largest two, I do think some sort of heating core would be a good idea there. I did still have to carve out a level place for the next tier to sit on, but having the cakes nice and even and already "tilted" was a real life saver for me since I'd never done that part. I'm sorry some folks are having such a bad time with them. Fat Daddio's has a chart on their website that shows exactly how much batter to put in the pans, that might help.

Can you return them?..If you are not satisfied..the company should accept them back.

For anyone interested, there's Ateco heating cores in a package of 4. They look like the flower nails, but are thicker.

http://www.pastrychef.com/HEATING-CORES_p_1992.html#

I don't have the pans, and I don't use flower nails, but I just came across these and thought I'd share.

I have this set and the first time I used them I thought I'd be throwing them out the window. After a couple of uses...I kinda like them, now. I over fill them and cut the tops off. As far as flower nails and baking cores...I hate the cores and use nails for flat cakes only. My only complaint would be that the shallow side should be deeper and then proportionately deeper going towards the deep end.

I own the pans myself and I didn't have a problem with them.