[UPBEAT MUSIC]
Hi, I'm Stephanie.
And today, I'm going to show you how to bake and decorate
with shaped pans.
Shaped pans are sometimes called novelty pans
are character pans.
Essentially, these are not your standard round, square,
or loaf pans.
They come in lots of shapes and sizes,
and they're really fun to use, especially for kids' birthday
parties and themed parties.
These pans look kind of advanced,
but they're actually deceivingly simple to use.
And today, we're here to help.
But before we get started, don't forget
to subscribe to our channel so you
don't miss any of our videos.
The term shaped pan applies to this heart pan or character
pans like this dinosaur pan.
For today's project, I'll be showing you
how to bake and decorate in the dinosaur pan.
But all the steps would be similar
if you're using any other shape.
What I love about shaped pans, aside
from the fact that they make such cool shapes,
is that baking is very easy.
It's almost like baking in any other cake pan.
But if you look closely, there's lots of corners and grooves
which create detail and serve as your guide
when you're decorating.
The cake can cling to these details.
So make sure you grease your pans so well that you
get a nice smooth release.
For this heart pan, watch out for corners
like the top and bottom point.
You can use a nonstick spray, like Bake Easy,
to generously cover the surface.
You can also use cake release if you'd like.
If your spray starts pooling or you're not
getting the small details, just take a pastry brush
and help it spread.
We want to have a nice, even coat.
I've already prepared a cake mix.
You can use your favorite.
Shape pans generally take one box
of cake mix, which is exactly what I have here,
or a two layer cake recipe.
These pans typically hold about 4 to 5 cups of batter.
Pour your batter into the pan.
I'm going to use an angled spatula
to spread the batter evenly.
It really helps to get into those corners
so you don't end up with a lot of cake in the middle
and the edges are too thin.
You want a nice, even layer.
I love this angled spatula because it keeps my fingers out
of the batter.
Our cake is ready for the oven.
Follow your recipe for bake time and temperature.
That can vary a little bit though
depending on the type of cake that you're baking.
My cake is done.
I'm going to put it on a cooling rack for about 10
to 15 minutes.
Be patient.
If you take it out of the pan too quickly,
it might be too soft and it might break.
Sometimes, your cake will have a little bit of a dome.
We'll need to remove this.
This will be the back of the cake,
so we want it to lay flat so it won't wobble or crack
once we've started decorating.
While it's still in the pan, still slightly warm
so be careful, I'm going to take my serrated knife
and I'm going to level this dome.
I'm just going to use the edges of the cake pan
as a guide to keep my knife flat while I'm cutting.
I'm going to let the pan do the work for me.
That was pretty easy, right?
Not too bad.
Next, we're going to take our cake out of the pan.
I'm going to put the cooling rack against the cake pan.
Now, hold these two tightly then flip.
Now, carefully lift the pan off.
This is perfect.
Look at all the detail we have here.
If you have some parts that have cracked or stuck
to the pan a bit, don't worry.
We're going to decorate over those imperfections with icing.
I'm going to let this cake cool completely for about 2 hours
before I transfer the cake to a cake board or serving platter.
Once my cake is cooled completely,
we are ready to transfer it to a platter or board.
The most important thing to remember
is to hold everything tightly and move quickly so
that your cake doesn't crack.
I'm going to hold the cake board against the cake.
Hold the board, the cake, and the rack tightly
and move quickly to turn it over.
Next, I'm going to lift off the rack.
Now, I'm going to hold the cake board against the cake.
I'm going to quickly turn this over.
You can serve this on a cake board,
or if you're using a platter, just
make sure it's not too heavy so it doesn't crush your cake.
If you have a cake lifter, transferring is a lot easier.
Just slide the blade under the cake, lift, and place
on your platter.
Now that my cake is cooled, it's time to ice and decorate.
You'll need two batches of buttercream
for this, about 4 to 5 cups.
First, we're going to use 1 and 1/2 cups
of thin consistency icing to ice the sides and background.
For this amount, I added about 3 teaspoons
of liquid to 1 and 1/2 cups of our buttercream recipe.
The rest, we'll color to make our decorations.
And those will need to be medium consistency.
To learn more about buttercream icing consistency,
make sure to check out the video linked below.
We'll have some really good tips for you.
To ice, I'm going to use my angled spatula again.
We're going to ice the sides and the background
of the dinosaur-- so the parts between the arm and the neck,
not the actual dinosaur.
Now that my cake is iced, we're ready to decorate.
I printed a picture of the dinosaur cake
so I have that as a reference while I'm decorating.
There's a link below with a printable version
of this project, complete with a handy reference
picture and the colors that I'm using for this cake.
I'm going to show you how to make three techniques
for decorating this cake, but you can use on other projects
as well.
I'm going to show you how to make smooth details, lines,
and star fill-in.
For smooth details like the spikes, the teeth, the mouth,
and the eyeballs, we're going to outline the shape
and fill it in using a Tip 3.
To smooth it out, you can do two things.
You can use a spatula and just use a back and forth motion
to smooth it out.
These details are small, so I recommend
using a tapered spatula because the tip is
much smaller compared to a regular angled spatula.
You have much more control, especially
with narrow shapes like this.
Or you can wait 30 minutes and let your buttercream crust
over just a little bit, dab your finger
in some cornstarch, not too much,
and just very lightly pat the icing smooth.
Just like that, super easy.
Next, I'm going to show you how to pipe lines.
We're going to use this for the mouth, nostril, the eyes,
the nails, and the spikes.
Were also piping lines all over to create definition.
I'm using Tip 3 and also Tip 5 for thicker lines for the belly
and tail.
To make a nice clean lines, we're
going to touch the tip on one end,
squeeze, and then lift the tip slightly.
Keep squeezing as we let the line drop down.
Now, touch the tip back down to the cake surface.
Stop squeezing and pull away.
You can do straight lines or curved shapes,
it's all the same technique.
Now, this might not be perfect the first time,
but don't worry, it takes a little bit of practice.
You might want to do a few tries on a plate or paper towel
just to get the hang of it.
Our details are done and it's really
starting to come together.
To cover this cake, we are going to use
the star fill-in technique using Tip 18.
It's really simple.
I'm going to hold my bag straight up and down.
My tip is just a little bit above the surface
so my star can build.
I'm going to squeeze, stop, and pull away.
Squeeze, stop, and pull away.
If you pull away before stopping,
you would get a pull-out star.
The tips will have peaks and your design
will look a bit shaggy.
What we want is a classic star.
When you're doing your star fill-in,
try your best to cluster your stars together
to make it look fuller and to cover the cake underneath.
Try as much as you can to keep your pressure consistent so you
have the same size star every time.
If your hands get tired, take a break.
There's no harm in that.
Just keep your cake and your icing
covered and you should be good to go.
To complete this cake, I'm going to use black candy
coated chocolate.
I'm just going to place these carefully
around the outer edge.
You can also pipe a dot border around the cake.
If you're still perfecting your icing technique,
this step is great for hiding your edges
and it will make it look cleaner.
And that's it.
This dinosaur cake was so much fun to make and he is so cute.
And now, you know all the steps.
If you're a beginner cake decorator,
these are easy techniques to try.
When you get a little bit more comfortable,
you can put these all together and make a cake just
like this one.
I guarantee it will be the hit at your next party.
If you enjoyed this video, please
subscribe to our channel for more tutorials like this.
And don't forget to leave us a comment on what other videos
you'd like to see from our channel.
I'm Stephanie from Wilton.
Thanks for watching.
[UPBEAT MUSIC]