I am pretty new to cake decorating. I just enrolled in my first Wilton class which will begin in October. I have most of the equipment for home use already and want to jump in to practicing. What wilton or any other brand of cake pan would you recommend as the most useful? Is there one pan that can make several different themes of cakes? I own the "animal crackers" pan already and have made the giraffe but nothing else. It is pretty limited in what can be done with it so I am seraching for something more versatile. Any suggestions are most appreciated!
irislady

I like the little hero pan, you can make a police man, firefighter, army guy, and I made a pirate out of it once. You can do lots of things with the horseshoe pan, too.

irislady, I find that I use my 12x18 square pan a lot. You can also cut different shapes from a square pan. Most of the Wilton pans usually have 3 or 4 different ways of decorating on the back of the insert. When I buy a character pan I will look on the back insert to see how many ways the pan can be used. Hope this helps and Welcome to CC

Three 9" rounds are a must for me. I also use my 11 x 15 constantly. Not only is it a 1/4 sheet cake but that size cake can be carved into just about any shaped cake you want! Enjoy and Welcome to Cakecentral!!

I would get two six inch pans for class. That way you can have more cakes (less baking) and a six inch is easier for a beginner to work with.

For first pans, I would go for the basics, rounds, squares, octagons or rectangles. For novelty pans I find the 3-D pans are the most versatile and useful.

Enjoy...
RaeMarie

I use the 6-inch, 8-inch, and 10-inch rounds all the time. I have the Magic Line brand pans. I like them better than the Wilton ones--they are sturdier.
As far as novelty pans go, the Wilton Wondermold pan is one I've used for a variety of purposes (it's for the doll cakes, but it can be used for many things).

Hello everyone! THANK YOU all so much for the information. I am so excited to get started doing something creative. tonight I am decorating my 11 X 15 pan for my daughters birthday (using a Cross Country theme if I can come up with one this quick) for a dinner tomorrow night. I believe I over baked the cake but I just put a simply syrup on it to help moisten it up.

I am hoping to pick up pans as I can afford to and make different cakes to get started with.. and practice alot.

THANKS again!
Irislady

I use my 6, 10, 12, 14" rounds and my 12 x 15 oblong pans the most..... I have the doll cake pan..and I got the oval set in course 2....I have a sq. pan set 6" up to 18".....I don't like making the 18" cakes at all....to hard to handle....
I usually sculpt cakes from my 12 x 18" pan....
You should look at yard sales, and sales at cake outlet stores and slowly build up your collection...

The Wilton pans will last you for many years to come. I have several pans...but I am in the Wilton Class I and you use a 10" the whole time pretty much. It's nice to have a 6-8-10-12 rounds...one or two square...and buy character, ect...along the way as needed. Good luck!