I;ve read on here that many of you use an inverted flower nail as a heating core of some sort.

Questions, questions...
What size pans do you do this for?
How many nails do you use?
Do you grease the nail before putting it in the pan?
Do you add the nail before or after the cake batter?
When your cake is done baking, how soon do you remove the nail?
Is there a technique for removing it? And doesn't it leave a hole in your cake?

THANKS for all your help

Most of those questions are answered in a recent forum question at:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-8355-heating.html+core

I haven't tried it yet, so I can't offer any advice on that.

Last night would have been perfect to try it though, since the middle of my cake was undercooked.

I love the flower nail trick. The heating core is a waste. I have read some use 2 nails for 11x15 and 12x18. I used 1 for 11x15 and it was just fine.

I pour the batter in with the greased/flour nail.

I used 2 flower nails in My 11x15x2 pan. Needless to say I was not very impressed with it. The cake was still domed.


Princess

I was disappointed that it didn't work for me either. Just took an 11x15 out of the oven. Used the baking strips with no flower nail and had minimal doming. The first 11x15 that I baked this morning was baked using 2 flower nails. Not only was the cake with the flower nails more dry but there was a higher dome. I'll stick to the baking strips.

I thought the point of using the flower nail as a heating core was not to prevent doming, but to ensure that your cake was thoroughly baked throughout.

I use the flower nails ALL THE TIME. I haven't had one problem with them. The only difference with me is that I use a lot of them. I use more that 2 nails if its a sheet cake. I space them out to make sure that the cake cooks completely. I don't use them personally to get a leveled cake. When you flip your cake over on the cooling rack to let it cool, you'll see the flat part of the nail. Just take it out as soon as you flip the cake over. And you never have a big hole in your cake. I hope this helps but as you can see, everyone has their own opinions on it. Hope it works for you just as it does for me. - Kenya