I got the pan for christmas as want to make one for a birthday this week. Do you divide and fill the cake like you would regular cakes or do you just fill the middle between the top swirl and bottom? How has everyone else do it? Thanks for your guidance

I have used the pan a few times. I just fill between the top and bottom and then ice the top as well. The bottom takes more batter and if you fill the "top" to full you will have to cut off the bump so it sits flat on the bottom. I would think that if you try and fill the bottom and make it three layers the filling on the bottom could not hold the weight from the top and icing. Just my guess. I have only ever filled the middle and iced the top.

Hope this helps! Make sure you spray the top and bottom well.

i got this pan also over christmas also - i hope you post some pics of your cake because i havent used mine yet

Me three! Hubby got it for me for Christmas. I've read a lot about it, thpough. It seems the top bakes a lot faster than the bottom, so you may want to research how people handle that before making your first cake with it.
Personally, I would torte the bottom to add another layer. Otherwise, that's a tall piece of cake with little frosting to ease it down.

Funnily enough I used mine for the first time last night. The Top does cook quicker than the bottom, so I think flower nail the bottom. I did not torte the bottom just stuck the 2 together and buttercreamed the top, and I felt that was fine.

as the top cooked faster what do you do? do you still pour/bake both parts at the same time or do you bake the bottom for about 10mins first and then pour the top part and bake?

I think try the flower nail in bottom half and see how it goes, it does not cook quicker to the fact that one half is burnt and the other isn't cooked. Someone who has used the pan lots may have a better idea but if not that is what I am going to try next time as I had the flower nail in both halves.

OOh fun gift! I got my giant CC pan for my birthday and I think you can make so many cute cakes with it. Everyone seems to have their own methods for making it work for them. I have gone two routes and both have worked. First one is to bake each part separately, fill and bake the bottom, take it out to cool then fill and bake the top for a shorter time.

Otherwise with a few tweaks I picked up between here and the Wilton board I have successfully baked both at once. Baking at 325, take a small (6" pan) with about an inch or two of water in it, set the pointed "top" part of the cc pan into the water bath in the oven.

I use an extended doctored mix recipe and this gives me enough to fill to about 3/4 inch from the top (about 4 1/4 cups of batter for the bottom and 3 for the top) I like it to bake up high, over the top a bit so I can easily level the 2 parts so they sit nice and flush. Since I use extra batter it needs to bake anywhere from 55-70 minutes at 325 depending on the recipe, just depends.

I like to tort and fill the bottom, but you don't have to, just personal choice & for me an unfilled cake is doing the naked dance. I also make a candy liner for the wrapper like they show in the Wilton yearbook.

But I have seen so me cute ones where buttercream was used and a great one where the person turned the bottom upside down and poured ganache which molded to the shape, super cute! Sorry I dont have all of my files with me, so no pics, but do a google image search. I just sent this blog to my friend who got the Big Top" CC Pan it shows how to make the candy liner like in the yearbook.

http://ohsugarcakes.blogspot.com/2009/03/candy-liner-for-giant-cupcake.html
Gosh, why are my posts always so long, I know I talk a lot, but geesh! Good luck! Andrea

It's trial and error to get it to bake evenly (lower temp & bake longer, etc) & YES grease it well. They really should've made it 2 seperate pans. I have a few pics in my gallery - nothing super fancy (yet). Everyones loves seeing this giant cupcake so I'm sure it will be a hit for you too.

Good Luck & Happy New Year!

I have now tried...key word try..to bake one in my new pan. I'm not sure if it was the recipe I tried since I got a new cookbook and thought I would try one or if it was the pan but it seemed to take forever to bake. Since it was just for a trial I went to torte the bottom and the cake was sponge wet as if it was not cooked enough. I ended up throwing it out because it just din't seem right and it even tastes undercooked.
I'm going to try again and use a recipe that I have used lots so I know that it's not the recipe. Thanks for the advice andpotts, I am going to give that a shot.

KitKatCakes - most likely it isn't the recipe you're using just adjusting the temp & baking time. It takes a few tries to get it right. In the meantime, you have plenty of scraps to snack on

Thanks Kimmers, I think I'll try the recipe again just as a normal cake and practice, practice, practice I'm going to adjust my time and use the water/pan method tomorrow to see how it bakes for me.......I will not let the giant cupcake bet me....lol

I scooped out some cake from the bottom after it was baked and filled that and then put a layer of filling between top and bottom. There is a picture of mine in my photos. Everyone loved the extra filling and it didnt affect the structure at all.