Im working on my second wedding cake, its a 12 inch square, and im having the same problem that i had witht he first one...gettting the middle done without overbaking the edges! I have tried starting at 300 for 20 min then baking at 325 , but it takes over an hour to cook*this was advised on another cake board* this time, i tried using 350 as stated on wilton, but its overcooking on the ends and the middle is still jiggling..its been in about 45 min. im using bake even strips and a flower nail for a heating core. My oven does cook off temp, so i use a thermometer in there to watch the temp. Where am I going wrong here? I still have another 12 inch, two tens and two sixes to bake.

I would like to know also. I always bake at 325 it take a little longer. I have never used baking strips, but I do use a flower nail when baking larger cakes. With all my cakes I do put a pie pan of water at the bottom of my oven when baking. My cakes never dry out and they are always baked all the wall through.
Good luck!!!!

You could try using two flower nails spaced out in the center.

Usually you need a heating core for cakes bigger
than 10 inches. I use a nail tip and put it in the
middle. (you put your roses or flowers on this)
It's metal. It serves as a core.
You can get a heating core at Michaels or
cake dec store.
vicki

Since you are already using one nail and that's not working, I would use two. I bake at 325 and use 2 nails and the bake even strips. My chocolate recipe takes forever to bake so this is what I use to help it along. You could try the actual heating core I suppose. I have never used mine though- the nails seem to serve me well!

I am baking a 14" right know and using a heating core I fill it with some mix to plug the hole when cooled I tried the flower nail and didn't like the results but lots use them I guess its whatever you prefer it still takes a long time to bake I always bake at 325 never dry and always moist.

I use a heating core that I purchased a Michaels, I also bake at 325 for a longer period of time. I never use a set time, just when the cake is done in the middle. I never have dry cakes, always moist.

I use a heating core too works well on the big cakes otherwise you have to cook your cake a really long time. It is recommended to use the core over 10" pans, so I would either use 3 or 4 nails or a heating core..

I usually use at least three flower nails if the cake is larger than 10 inches just kind of centered around the middle. I've tried the heating core but just didn't like the big hole in the middle. What rack are you baking on and is there any reason you only have one cake in. I don't know about others but I can bake 2 12'" at one time and haven't had a problem. Maybe you should move your rack around for the next cake and see if it makes a difference.

My advice is to buy a bunch of flower nails, put 2 or 3 in the larger ones and bake 2 cakes at a time. I'm guessing you only have a single set of pans, but you can always bake 2 different sizes at once. That's what I did before I got another set of rounds, and that's what I still do with the squares, which I only have one set of. My only problem with baking 2 cakes is that they REALLY need to be rotated, since my oven is only 18" wide, and I have to be REALLY careful so they don't fall.

One last thing - I've never tried it, but maybe you can squeeze a bread pan or something filled with water into the oven to keep your cakes a little more moist.

Good luck!

I haven't really had trouble with larger cakes and I generally use a 14" deep dish pizza pan for my larger rounds.
I'm wondering though, do you put the nails in the bottom of the pan and then put the batter in, so that the nail head is upside down? I assume it wouldn't leave too much of a hole, not one that wouldn' tbe easily filled with icing, right?

I always use baking strips, bake at 325, and never used a heating core or flower nail. I believe the last 12" round I baked took a good 60-70 minutes. I would not advise turning the oven temp up, as the outside will burn before the middle even gets done.

I also bake at 325 and use the baking strips with a heating core for larger cakes. This has worked well for me. As others have stated, the edges don't overcook and the cake is moist.

I think the heating core vs. flower nails is a matter of preference. I haven't tried the nails yet but, so many seem to love it that I may have to give it a try.

Good luck.

the flower nail do you spread it around the pan if using more than 1 or is there a specific way to place them?

bump, bump, bump.

With the flower nails, you spray them with cooking spray (Pam, etc.) and place them in the pan- toward the center. Space them out a little though. Of course you can always stick them in after you pour the batter in if you forget to do it before (I do it all of the time because I can't remember!).

Before I started reading this forum, I used to use a metal tube that I have. I think it's to form canolis! But I started using the nail after learning the tip from this forum. Look around your kitchen and see if you have anything you could use that is metal, and that has a hole in it so that you can plug the hole with cake after.

I use bake even strips on the edges of the pans. That will keep the edges from drying out while you're waiting for the middle to bake.