I am considering getting one of the character shaped pans for my daughter's birthday cake. I will have to get one off a Ebay I think because I amnot sure theywould still have a Bert and Ernie one out at stores!
I am nervous about getting it OUT of the pan when it is done though. Any tips on how to make it not stick? I normally line the bottom of my pans with parchment or waxed paper, but of course that won't work for a shapes one!
I may end up chickening out and just free handing it onto a rectangle shaped cake!!
They make something called cake release. They carry it at Michaels and Walmart (in the specialty cake section kind of by the wedding favors at my store). I think it's made by wilton. It works better than any thing I have ever used.
I bakes a lot. I usually grease pans really well and then flour them. If ou buy a character pan, it should tell you what to do to prepare the pan, at least the ones I've bought have told me.
Use pam. It works great. Spray it good. Don't flour the pan that will make it stick.
If you by something called Baker's joy, it will come out no problem. It's found near the cooking sprays. When you spray it, it coats the pan with flour so it won't stick. As a cake decorator, I couldn't live without that stuff!
If you don't want to purchase a shaped pan, you may check with some local specialty stores. One of the cake supply places near me will rent shaped pans to people. You put down a $10 deposit and it costs you $2 to rent it...I think you can get it three days at a time.
And if you decide you are chickening out...google "butter cream transfer". It's easier than drawing by hand and much more precise too.
I haven't used one in quite some time but the couple things I remember doing was spraying it with cooking spray and really leaving it to cool, longer than I would normally, to make sure nothing was going to stick to the pan.
Then I hid the mistakes with decorations/frosting LOL
Spray Pam on the pan. Or use the wax paper on a stick of butter to rub butter on all the surfaces of the pan, including getting into the nooks and crannies.
We made a Thomas the Tank Engine cake for my son's first birthday. We didn't have any trouble with it sticking.
I make a lamb cake for Easter so I know what you mean!!
I grease it real well with Crisco; then use a little of the cake mix instead of flower to dust it after the Crisco. Be sure and tap the excess cake mix into the mixing bowl.
After baking, let it cool a few minutes and using the plate you want to keep it on, it should pop right out. This has worked for me with no problems.
Good luck!!
For a cake, I always grease the pans with butter, then coat them in flour. I've never used parchment or waxed paper. The butter and flour works well. If you are making a chocolate cake, you can use cocoa powder to coat it instead of flour (I just learned that trick a couple of months ago - tried it once and it was great).
