I am very new to this and taking Wilton classes now. I was reading all the wondeful tips in the tips thread and saw mention of using a flower nail in your pan when baking your cake. I didn't see exactly what the purpose of it was. Could someone please explain to me what it is for and how to do it correctly? Thanks so much!

Especially in larger cakes the outside will cook faster than the center because it is closer to the metal pan which conducts heat, the nail when placed in the center of the cake being metal will also conduct the heat making the center cook faster so the cake is more evenly cooked. Be sure to coat the nail with cake release all over before putting it in cake.
hth

The purpose is to help cakes bake more evenly in the middle. Same principle as a heating core for large cakes but you only have a little hole from the nail.

To use it, you place the nail upside down in the pan before you pour in the batter. I grease the nail as well as the pan, but I don't think everyone does. You can use more than one nail for the larger cakes and place them evenly around the pan.

A biggy, that I never learned in the Wilton classes is "cake settling" when I had bulges on the sides of my cake I was told that I had overfilled it, actually the cake needs to settle at room temp. for about 3-4 hours before freezing or decorating. Cover the cake in plastic wrap when it reaches room temp. then let it settle. This site has been way more informative than the 4 classes I took through Wilton.

The metal nails help to evenly distribute the heat so you don't end up with the dreaded 'dome' in the center and the entire cake cooks evenly at the same time. I even use 2 nails when I do a 9 x 13 cake and it works great - much less cake to cut off when leveling. Not sure how many people do both the nails AND the bake even strips - but I do and I love the results of tall almost flat tops.

Thanks so much for the replies. I'm learning so much here!

here's the cake central article (w/ photos):

http://cakecentral.com/articles/651/cake-baking-flower-nail-method-tutorial

I just tried this myself for the first time last week and was AMAZED at the differance!!!

The flower nail in the cake is much better to use then those huge heating cores.
Just be careful when flipping out your cakes onto cooling racks. I've tore a cake or two when I wasn't paying attention.

I just tried it recently too . It makes a huge difference

Wow..can't wait to try it. I have my final cake in fondant class coming up.

Does is flower nail only beneficial with larger nails or would I see results with a 9"?