I've read alot of these forums about people using flower nails to bake the cakes, why do you need them, when do you need them and how do you use them?? so many questions! THANKS SO MUCH!!!

sarajohnson,

This is a great tip, I also got it from CC. When baking cakes larger than 9 inches you should use a heating core. If you take a look at the shopping section of this site you can see that it is a product that would leave a big hole in the middle of the cake. So to minimize damage you can substitue the big heating core for a metal flower nail used for decorating. if you have a 10 inch pan you should center the nail in the pan, the bigger the pan the more nails you use evenly spaced through the pan. Grease the pan and heavily grease the nail, place the nail at the bottom of the pan and pour batter on top. Once baked, flip cake and pull out nail. It really is a great tip. Hope that helps

First hi & welcome to cc!!

Why do you need them-to get the cake done inside before you burn the outside.

When-mainly when you have a very large cake or a very thick cake.

How do you use it- I put the nail ead in the bottom of the pan then add batter & bake. When you flip it out of the pan simply pull the nail out

and it works great !! ao much easier.especially since we tend to fill the pans a little more than average even in the "smaller"sizes

thanks so much everyone, now I understand. So many things to know!!!

I use cake release on the sides of my pans, or you can grease and flour, AND use parchment paper on the bottom. I put the greased flower nail in the center of the pan (if only using one) and then put in the paper over the nail. This way there is less indentation and no cake lost (stuck to the nail) and my cake comes right out of the pan. Remove the nail as soon as it's cooled a few minutes.

When you use a heating core you're supposed to put some cake batter in the core(follow directions with core) to bake a plug for the hole left in the cake when the core is removed. The cores work nicely but the nails are cheaper.

would I be able to buy these flower nails at hobby lobby or joanns?

Quote:

Originally Posted by anesha

sarajohnson,

This is a great tip, I also got it from CC. When baking cakes larger than 9 inches you should use a heating core. If you take a look at the shopping section of this site you can see that it is a product that would leave a big hole in the middle of the cake. So to minimize damage you can substitue the big heating core for a metal flower nail used for decorating. if you have a 10 inch pan you should center the nail in the pan, the bigger the pan the more nails you use evenly spaced through the pan. Grease the pan and heavily grease the nail, place the nail at the bottom of the pan and pour batter on top. Once baked, flip cake and pull out nail. It really is a great tip. Hope that helps

Here's a quick photo demo for the flower nail method:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-612603.html
HTH....

Thank you guys!