Heating Core??? Won't It Make A Hole In My Cake?
Decorating By projectqueen Updated 15 Mar 2006 , 9:27am by freddie
Okay, it seems like I have a million questions lately. This one has me stumped.
I am going to be making a stacked cake, 6" round and 10" round. They are the deep pans, 3" deep.
I saw I should use a heating core on pans 10" or larger. Well, I just looked on the Wilton site to see what a heating core is and that thing is huge! Isn't it going to make a big hole in the middle of my cake?
It says to fill the core 1/2 full with batter. What if the cake comes out a different height than the core part? This is very confusing to me. Can someone explain?
When I used it I took the cake from inside the core and glued it into my cake with bc. Mine was a little taller than my cake so I just leveled it off after I put it in. Hope this helps!
yep - it will make a big hole - trim off the bottom of the baked cake core (about 1/4 of an inch) - insert it in the hole and trim it off when you level the rest of the cake - doesn't matter if it's a different height....Good luck!
Once you pop the cake out of the core and level it, you will not see a difference.
Many people do not use the heating core. A flower nail inverted in the 10in will serve the same purpose. Just prepare the nail like you do the pan. It will pop out when you remove the cake from the pan, leaving a very small hole that no one will see.
I always use a flower nail sometimes two if the cake is big. It works great and is much cheaper than the core and no need to glue your pieces of cake back together!
Will the flower nail work in a pan that is 3" deep? Is it enough to thoroughly bake the cake?
Once you pop the baked batter from the core and place it in the hole you'll never be able to tell the difference. I had this concern the first time too, but it really is easy to use. Be sure to treat the inside and outside of the core just as you do your pans... I use the Wilton cake release.
What do you mean, use the flower nail? When do you put it in? When it is halfway baked? How else would it stand up? Also, are we talking the same flower nail that you make a rose on??? Is the flat round part supposed to be sitting on top?
Confused...............
Yes, same flower nail as you make the rose on. You invert (flip over) the flower nail flat side on the cake pan, actual nail part sticking up. works well.
When you flip out your cake on the cooling grid, the flat side will show. I just stick a spatula under to pry up.
I always use one or two flower nails in any cake 10 in or more, also in any cakes baked in a pyrex bowl and the nails work great and leave such a small hole that you barely notice it and it covers easily with icing.
Just remember to grease it same as pan with cake release or whatever you use.
So, if I were doing a 14" cake, would I use two nails, side by side, or do you space them? I am so glad this thread was started! This is good to know.
If you are using two nails you will want to space them out a little so they can each "work" on different parts of the cake. The heat gets conducted up through the nail so putting two right next to each other wouldn't do much more than just one alone. It's better to leave space between (at least that's how I do it). I'd put each one about 1/3 of the way from opposite edges, if that makes sense.
Julie
I tired that flower nail thing. I don't find that it made much of a difference and by the time the cake was done the nail had turned the most God awful colour. The next day it began to rust. What went wrong???
Wow, I don't know what happened for you, Sweet_honesty, I have only had great results using the nails and my nails look the same as when I bought them, no discoloration or rust at all !!!
Hopefully someone else will know why you had these problems ?
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