Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

yesterday i went out and brought the closest cake tin i could possibly find to pauls 8×10′ toffee cake he uses in the teddy bear tutorial but obviously being over here they are not the exact measurements so i went to the cakeometer and they are saying infinity gram for every ingredient i type in?
at the beginning for existing recepie i clicked round and then 10′ (i didn’t fill in the height because i want sure..
then new cake tin i clicked square (but it isn’t square :/ ) and filled in width7 length11 and height2 (inches) and it all comes up with infinity gram. have i broken the cakeometer???
i’m so scared about getting these measurements wrong because its not an easy cake to make even with the right pans (judging from previous posts about paula chocolate cake) i need a nice deep cake that won’t crumble so i can carve a wonderful teddy. i brought 2 tins one measures 7′ x 10′ 2 inches depth and the other is 7.3inches x 11.4 2 inch depth

ok panic over cakeometer came through (i just guessed the height at 4 inches and filled it in the existing recipe box and it worked .. so fingers crossed x

Hello pistolaki

The cakeometre requires the user to correctly fill the appropriate ingredients, tin size and shape. If any of the requirements are omitted it will not process an answer. The 2″ deep pans will not give a deep enough cake. I bake my cakes in 3″ deep tins, my cake for this recipe finishes just over 2.5″ which is sufficient for carving and stacking. As you have read from other posts, the recipe can be difficult, however, many members have had no or little problems. It is important for all recipes to use the correct size tins for a successful result. If you have a 10″ square tin 3″ deep it will be more suitable. If you have not baked this recipe before it may be better for you to try a smaller cake in a deeper tin as practice. I have entered the ingredients, tin size and depth for your measurements into the cakeometre, which is working fine, (so you haven’t broken it!) it can’t be broken by users but it does need correct information before it will give a correct answer. Hope this helps. x

ahhh i have just seen it didn’t rise very much at all its only risen an inch 🙁 i probably can’t work with that now can i? might just get his bum if i double it over..i have deep round tins i’m thinking it might be best to bake another using a 9inch round (its the biggest i have).. OR what if i lie to the cake meter and tell them my pan is 4 inch deep and then go extra strong on the lining with the greaseproof paper it might hold…?? hmmm w what would you do madeitwithlove? my mum is coming over soon i’m going to get her to bring me the exact size tins i need!

Don’t lie to the cakeometer, why don’t you just bake the mudcake here http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/how-to-make-chocolate-mud-cake. Eat the moist cake, enjoy it’s lovely flavour and bake the next one in the right tin to do it justice. That’s what I would do!! I guess you might have had a slightly taller bake if you’d increased the ingredients for a 4 ” deep and had the lining paper way up to help the mixture rise, never having done it, I wouldn’t know how it would turn out, Shame you don’t have a 10″ square that would have been fine. Good that you don’t mind experimenting but expensive on the purse. May be worth asking your mum to bring over a selection of tins, have a look at the tutorials to see which ones are most regularly used. x

OOOH i just put it in the oven it’ll be ready in 2 hours do you know i expected the cake mix to come right unto the top of the tin but it didn’t it still filled up to about half way so i’m not optimistic at all 🙁 it is so expensive and so frustrating not having the right resources but i have an order for tomorrow (1st birthday) and again all the english mums will be there so i HAVE TO IMPRESS! i’ve only charged 55 euro for this cake i thin thats just the ingredients once i’ve added ganache icing and buttercream.. never mind its all learning. i will try the mud cake untill the right tins come ( i have to make a car next week) is it ok for carving? also what is your opinion do you think i can leave out the king of the bear and just pipe the fur straight onto the ganache? (once its been in the fridge of course) .. thank you for all your advice you have been my saviour!!! 🙂

bit of feedback from the cake.. it came out nice and deep! not deep enough but much nicer than the first one!! next time i will say its 4 inches deep or 5 to get that thickness where i can cut it in half and it not all fall apart ! its still cooling down so hope i havnt spoke to soon and its good for carving…

Probably too late with an answer about the icing, if you’ve piped the fur straight onto the ganache just watch it doesn’t crack and break the limbs off. The fondant icing keeps everything together to prevent the bear from falling apart. The mud cake recipe is very good for carving, if you go back to the blog you’ll see the relevant information there. Hope all goes well on Saturday, I’m sure everyone will be most impressed.

hi madeitwithlove just thought i’d quickly fill you in.. i decided to put icing on the bear before i did the fur the cake went dan a storm on saturday so i’m really pleased ( i was so relived as i had no idea what it would taste like) as i was building and ganaching the bear it was literally falling apart in my hands!! next time i will freeze my cakes before i carve them in the hope it will stop them falling apart in my hands building that bear took me HOURS! because the cake was just so crumbly. i must confess though.. i was inpatient and dint leave the cake to cool in its tin before i turned it out ( i was desperate to see the thickness) .. nor was it 100% cool when i started carving so hopeful by being patient, and then freezing my cakes before carving i’ll have cracked it! here’s hoping… ( i have a mcqueen car to do for thursday and 2 more for sunday .. eek! ) hope you are well xx

Hello pistolaki

Well hallelujah, I’m so pleased all turned out well! Definitely freeze your cake next time, you’ll see such a big difference in handling, and because the cake is cold the ganache sets so nicely. You could bake all your forth coming cakes now and freeze down, it will be less stressful for you. Good luck with them and thank you for the feed back. Take care xx