I have an order for a belly cake next weekend. I see photos where the belly and boobs look perfectly smooth and round. Are you guys using a special curved pan? Or are you just carving the layers? Im a little worried I wont get it as perfect as some of the cakes Ive seen on this site.

Ive tried baking in Pyrex bowls before, and usually the cake turns out horrible. It gets burnt on the outside, and under-baked on the inside. Even if I use a heating core it doesnt seem to help the final outcome that much. I normally bake my cakes at 325. If Im using the pyrex bowls to bake in, do I need to adjust the temp or something? I think this will probably give me the best look, but because of my bad experiences with using those bowls Im a little worried.

If most of you say you just carve it, then maybe Ill just go at it and see if I can get it perfectly round and symetrical. If you have done this cake before, do you have any tips you can give me?

I tried to post a photo of it, I dont understand why its not working. I cant get it to post a photo for the life of me. Always worked before.

I've never made this cake, but am anxious to get the chance. I think it's so cute! Everything that I've read says to use the Wilton soccer ball pan and two mini wonder molds. I'm sure if I'm wrong, someone will say so. lol Good Luck and have fun with it.

I use a Wilton soccer ball pan and bake two oversized muffins and carve them down to boobies! Then I place both on a cardboard and cut around them with an xacto knife. I decorate the body then place it on the sheet cake.

I use the half ball pan for the belly and 2 mini wonder molds for boobs. Works perfectly everytime.

I made a belly cake a few weeks ago and used half a Wilton ball pan for the belly and two mini-ball pans for the boobs. I'd direct you to my photos, but I'm WAY behind on my posting! Anyhow, I was happy with how it turned out. Good luck on the one you're working on. I think that, even if you end up carving it, you can get the buttercream or ganache that you put under the fondant to cover up any flaws in the carving before you cover the cake with fondant (if that's what you're planning to do). I covered the belly and boobs separately, by the way. It helped to give definition to the whole figure.

Wow. She needs more servings than that, so I think I may have to try just using my large pyrex bowl. She needs 25 servings, and the way you guys are making it, it might make 12-14 servings or so, correct? Darn. I guess Ill figure it out someone. Thanks guys.

I used the pyrex bowl and I was really happy with the results.

Im wanting to make a small version of the belly cake, just to see it. Was thinking of carving a 6' round into the belly and then making big cake balls for the boobs. We'll see how it turns out

She actually stopped by just now to give her payment. She really wants it just as it is, so I guess I'll just try the pyrex bowls. Ill just do a little research on it again this time.

I have done pyrex bowls...or stainless steel bowl and they worked out fine. I usually lower my temp to 300 for about the first 20 minutes or so and then crank it up to 325. I have stopped using the heating cores, but have used flower nails instead. I would use flower nails in the bowls if you can...that way it can bake evenly. I have also tried placing bake strips around the bowl but they seem to fall right off. Maybe you can have a better way of placing them on.

And for the boobies....I have baked in 2 small bowls instead of CC...I just dont do well with carving. Check out my pixs I have 2 belly cakes that I did using that method.

Its very cute! The last time I baked in those bowls, I tried wrapping the bowls with damp cut up towels to slow the cooking on the outside. , and I think I did use rose nails. Sometimes I use those metal tubes you fry cannoli shells on as heating cores. It kind of worked, but was a huge PITA. Maybe Ill try your suggestion and start off with the temp lower. Im usually pretty good with carving, but Im worried trying to carve a perfectly symetrical half sphere from regular round cake layers might be a challenge. Thanks for your advice!

I put my belly and boobs on top of a base cake like Bturpin did, so there were plenty of servings.

Here is a tutorial hope it works for you, a member posted it a few weeks ago, you do not have to use Wilton Fondant, and you can make an 8th inch round, and put it underneath the ball pan, or pryex dish for more servings.


http://media.cakecentral.com//files/how_to_make_a_belly_cake_617.pdf

Thank you!

the belly cake is my number one cake... i follow the bunt cake directions on the box to start with and then end up jsut hecking it ever 5 to 10 minutes after the time on the box is up... i use a smaller pyrex for the boobs... and the medium or largest for the belly and up to 2 mixes per belly... depending on how many i need to serve... i always end up having to carve some and cut them back some too to get the shape i like... but try the bunt cake temp...

Im getting ready to bake now! lets hope it works!

I need for someone to get pregnant so I can make one of these.

LOL! You know, it seems like people either love these or hate them. These kinds of cakes creep a lot of people out. I can absolutly see that. For me, honestly, its just cake. It doesnt bother me. Oh, these and the baby-shaped cakes. I made a baby shaped cake for a customer once. The expectant mother would not let anyone touch it! She guarded it with her life the whole party because people kept threatening to cut it up when she turned her back! lol. She took it home and it sat on her kitchen table for 3 days before she finally cut it. She said because it was so beautiful she didnt want to cut it, but...being an emotional and hormonal preggy....it doesnt surprise me it bothered her to cut it. lol. I can relate, trust me. Now, this cake was very cartoonish, so honestly I didnt think there would be that problem. But these belly cakes are a little more realistic so I can understand it being a little creepy. Especially if people do crazy things like sick a baby under the dress or a plastic baby inside the belly!

Anyways, Im looking forward to making this! Its my first one and Ive been doing cakes 3 years! Im sure once other people see it on my site Ill get more orders for it.

I love realistic body part cakes though. Maybe because it is weird and creepy. Last halloween a lady called me wanting a swollen, puss-filled leg with sores. It was for a doctor's office who, I guess, works on legs or something. I dont know. But apparently her boss didnt have a sense of humor and it was a no-go. I tell ya, I was soooo excited about that one!!! Maybe this year....

You know, Im just really upset right now. I just wasted a lot of money in ingrediants because once again baking in a pyrex bowl has failed me. This is the worst its ever been, though.

I dont know if the photo will post, because apparently this site is having issues again, but Ill describe to you what happened.

I sprayed and floured a large pyrex bowl, I dont know how big it is but I usually make a double batch of mmf in it, so it holds about 3 10oz bags of mm's. Its pretty big. Anyways.... so it was filled about halfway with batter. I put a rose nail in the bottom as suggested. I started off baking it on a lower temp as suggested. I turned it up to 325 after about 45 minutes. After another 20 minutes I noticed it was getting really dark and overdone on the outsides, but it was pure liquid in the middle. I turned it down just a hair. 15 minutes later I check on it again, and the middle has collapsed. If I can get that photo to post you can see how bad it is. Its got to be sunken in by several inches. I dont think I can save this mess. The outside is so overbaked that its pulling away from the sides and is crusty. The inside is still completly liquid.

I AM LIVID. Seriously, people apparently bake this way all the time and have success. I need to talk to someone who can tell me what Im doing wrong because Im tired of this and now I have to go out and buy all the ingrediants again for the orange creamcicle cake so this is just wonderful.

The photos just wont post. I dont know what the deal is. I even changed browsers to see if it was me. I think its the site. Let me see if I can upload it to my photos somehow. I usually dont do that so it may take me a minute....

I was wondering.............could you use a stainless steel mixing bowl (like those that come stacked in a set) for the belly cake?
I have one to do this weekend, and I haven't done one before.......I have a bundt pan, but the sides are fluted, so that won't work...........and I have done a frog in the pyrex bowl, but I was wondering if the stainless steel might work better? Anyone done this??

Thanks,
Susan

When I made mine I use a 8 inch half ball pan which comes with the Betty Crocker Bake N Fill set..Perfect for the belly..I used 2 mini wonder molds for the breasts...Worked awesome!!

http://media.cakecentral.com//files/how_to_make_a_belly_cake_617.pdf

I just saw this - it's made with a bundt pan. Looks easy and would give you the servings you need.

I knew I'd seen it somewhere here! The only reason I could find it is that I bookmarked it!