Newbie caker here .... such a newbie that I don't think I would even call myself a caker yet.

My son's birthday is this week and I'm making the cake. ** I finally decided that I would try some bake even strips, not really thinking that they would make that big of a difference. Boy was I wrong! The cakes without the strips (I only bought one set because I wanted to see if they would work) had a nice dome that I had to mush down and will need to trim off. The cakes with the strips baked right to the edge of the pan and are perfect.

So....I will never doubt anything I read on CC again.

**He is turning 4 and insisted that I could make him an Optimus Prime cake with legs -- i.e. a 3D cake of the robot standing up...with his battleax. Nope, can't do that this year. So instead he is getting a cake with a FBCT on top.

Lots of good information on CC !

Welcome to the forums

good luck with your sons cake I know it will be great, and a very warm welcome to cc