I'm not one to do a lot of baking as not really a sweet eater, but after seeing the topsy turvy cake pans on sale, i decided to buy them (my way of thinking was that it would be a great cake for my son's first b'day). Probably not the best style of tins for my first cake but thankfully there is such a thing as the internet otherwise I would have been in serious trouble. The members here have provided a lot of information on baking/decorating and I thank you all. After a couple of trial runs (and extra kilo's i now have to shed on top of the baby weight), I decided on a white choc mud cake for the 6" pan covered in white choc ganache and a choc mud cake for the 10" covered in a mixture of milk and dark chocolate ganache. Firstly, these pans are okay to cook in but believe me when i say use all the tools you can. I had flower nails in both tins, baking strips around the outside and also lfoil on top of the 10" pan. Yes i was paranoid but being my first time and this cake was going to be a gift for a friends baby shower, it needed to work!!! My mother in law had to come and babysit my 4mnth old so i could then decorate the cakes, I have never used fondant in my life and my friend wanted a jungle theme cake so i also made the animals (bit obvious when you look close). The finished product actually turned out really well, both cakes were cooked through, no dry/burnt bits or undercooked. She absolutely loved the cake and i now have 4 requests!!! Pls look at the pics below, i welcome any comments or suggestions.

I think it's gorgeous. Well done for a first!

Considering you don't bake a lot and have never used fondant and you made a topsy turvy cake. I'm giving you an A+++ Great job on cake

Tami

This looks great. For it being your first time using fondant it is really smooth. I also like how you stuck with one theme and committed to it. Congratulations on all of your upcoming cake requests.

The animals are adorable! Great job!

Thank you for the lovely comments. I'm now starting to build up my tool kit but things in Australia seem to cost a lot more here.

Thank you for the lovely comments. I'm now starting to build up my tool kit but things in Australia seem to cost a lot more here.

An adventurous first cake, a great success . CC is such a great wealth of info and ideas. Agree re cost of things in Oz. I'm dreaming of a holiday to the USA....are cake decorating shops considered sightseeing!

Hey, a fellow Aussie too! Yep much cheaper in the USA. In Melbourne there is a good place if you want details let me know!
Other than that, If I have time I buy my stuff from amazon, dispute the shipping charges, it still works out cheaper!

I'm in Adelaide so if they ship here & have a website the details would be great thanks. I need to get some normal pans soon.

I love your cake - it's so adorable!!

Sent you a pm!

Beautiful job! I was terrified of fondant for a long time and wouldn't have dreamed of using it on my first cake for someone else.

If you've got the addiction and can't think of anything but cake, be prepared for it to take over your life. You'll start looking at things a whole new way - "How can I put that on a cake?" You'll also be making quite an investment in caking stuff. Good luck.

Thank you. I was pretty scared especially since it was for a friend & didn't have a back up plan if it didn't work. Hopefully ny next projects will turn out just as good.