Hi all, I am trying to make a flower pot cake for my mom and need to know if I can bake the cake directly in a clay pot from home depot. I made one on the weekend but I lined it with foil and it didn't turn out so well. I have heard conflicting ideas if it is safe to eat the cake. If anyone has done it and didn't die, I would love to hear from you!!!
Thanks, Allyson

Dear Allyson --

There are different grades of terracotta, for different purposes. The terracotta that they make roasters out of is food-safe, flower pots are not.

Wash the pot before using. Do not worry about water absorption in the pot, as the moisture will act like baking strips. Please line the pot with foil before baking, and spray your foil with cake release before adding your batter. Bake it at 300-325 degrees, so it has enough time to bake through the middle. Use an oven thermometer to monitor your oven temperature. If you have a Wonder Pan, use the heating rod that comes with it to bake the cake throughout the middle.

Terracotta pots retain heat for a long time, so turn your oven off 10-15 minutes before the end time, and let it self-bake with the retained heat, so the sides do not burn.

Remove the cake from the pot immediately. Remove the foil after 5-10 minutes. Allow to cool completely.

If you are going to return the cake to the pot for presentation, re-line the pot with foil before replacing the cake in it.

Please PM me and let me know if any of these tips help you. My grand-niece and I did the mini-pots as a school project, filled them and timed them like cupcakes. This was the technique we used. I bought stainless steel (no nickel or chrome plate) roofing nails and used them as you would a flower nail. The pots were purchased on sale at AC Moore for 15 cents each.

Theresa

Instructions for clay pots say your are supposed to wash them well, oil them very well, and bake. however, my experience was that most things stick. It would still be a good idea to line the pot. I did not try a sheet of parchment before I decided it was too much trouble.

Hey, JoannB --

I agree with you, parchment would really be too much work. You would have to fold it numerous times, piece it together, and it still wouldn't fit correctly, it would still leak through somewhere.

I'll stick with foil and cake release spray.

Theresa

Thanks all for your input!

Here is a silly question: why?

Wouldn't it just be easier to bake layers and carve them into a flowerpot shape?

And even if you wanted to present it in the flowerpot, why not bake cakes and then layer them into the flowerpot (admittedly I'm having trouble picturing how you would even begin to serve it if the cake is presented in the flowerpot).

I have to be missing something.