Mercedes55 Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 My neighbour has asked me if I will bake an 80th Birthday cake for her mother's Birthday. Although I bake cakes quite a lot I've never used those number tins and had hoped when my neighbour rented them out that they would give some instructions regarding how much cake mix to put in them, but they didn't. I've looked online and haven't found anything other than a suggestion of filling tins with water to work out the total volume, something I can't do with these as they have no bottoms to them. I am doing a Mary Berry madeira mix as that's what my neighbour wants and I know a madeira cake gives a nice dense sponge for something like this. At the moment I am thinking a 3 egg mix for each tin or would that be too much or even too little? I'm also not sure if I can bake both cakes at the same time as I always bake cakes without the fan function on as I find the fan setting doesn't bake my cakes as evenly as so I always turn it off. Not sure if I can make enough mix for both tins and bake one and then the other or if I should make up 2 separate lots of mixture Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramble Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Wow, you are brave - my mum's just turned 80 and I ordered her cake - I couldn't bring myself to present her with my attempt!!! I can't really help you with your question but I did find this when I was looking at doing it myself for Mum, it might help (it might not, it just made me more determined not to do it!!!!) http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110728031809AAZfOgW Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercedes55 Posted May 6, 2014 Author Share Posted May 6, 2014 Wow, you are brave - my mum's just turned 80 and I ordered her cake - I couldn't bring myself to present her with my attempt!!! I can't really help you with your question but I did find this when I was looking at doing it myself for Mum, it might help (it might not, it just made me more determined not to do it!!!!) http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110728031809AAZfOgW Good luck! I think I'm stupid rather than brave as I've really not got much of an idea of what I am doing! Thanks for that link Bramble as I worked out from that how to roughly gauge how much mix I need. I used a large plastic bag to 'line' one of the tins and filled it with water, weighed the water and roughly calculated that I'm going to need a 4 egg mix for each cake, I think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 I would probably bake them separately, then if the first one doesn't work out you can adjust things for the second one. And redo the first one if necessary! I know what you mean about the fan oven, I prefer the no-fan option on mine. Anyway,well done for undertaking this - it's very generous of you,and I hope the birthday girl (and her daughter) appreciate all your hard work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercedes55 Posted May 6, 2014 Author Share Posted May 6, 2014 I would probably bake them separately, then if the first one doesn't work out you can adjust things for the second one. And redo the first one if necessary! I know what you mean about the fan oven, I prefer the no-fan option on mine. Anyway,well done for undertaking this - it's very generous of you,and I hope the birthday girl (and her daughter) appreciate all your hard work. My OH volunteered me for this, all I can say is men Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lydia Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Whenever I've done awkward shaped cakes I've always baked them at a lower temp for longer than I would a 'normal' round or square sponge. This helps get a more even bake without too much of a dome, which is a pain to cut off and keep the cake level afterwards. I usually go for about 130C fan (no facility to turn my fan off, unfortunately) for a couple of hours or more, depending on the size of the tin. I've never done numbers but I've done books, several Disney characters, Bob the Builder, footballs etc. and this has always been ok. Make sure you get the tin lining flat into all the nooks and crannies too. An experienced sugarcrafter advised me to use cling film to line the tin instead of paper. Yes, I too was dubious but, on a low heat, it works much better than parchment. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercedes55 Posted May 7, 2014 Author Share Posted May 7, 2014 I've never thought of using clingfilm to line the tins, might give that a go. I think the lower temp sounds a good idea too as I know madeira cake is inclined to bake with a dome on the top. Well I have tried doing one this morning, didn't have any lemons so used some rose water & vanilla extract instead and tried to colour the cake pink. I know you need to use those gel colours to get a proper colour but I only had the basic ones that I normally use to colour icing and I hoped the red one would make the cake pink, but it's just given it a pink tinge. Oh well the cake itself doesn't seem too bad. The lines on the top are because the cake tin had metal reinforcements across the bottom which is a shame as it means neither the top nor bottom is totally flat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lydia Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Looks good You can make it flat by 'plugging' the top (and bottom) with a bit of sugarpaste when you come to cover it. Just get a thin sausage of the stuff and bung it in the gaps, then cover the whole thing with a sheet of sugarpaste. Then all you need to do is smooth it down (a small spirit level is good to get it as level as possible) and no-one will know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
