Original message sent by Nalgh3

Hey, I'm planning to make a soccer cake next month for my brother's end of tournament celebration and I had a few inquiries that I was hoping someone with more experience would help me out with:

a) I'm planning to use the Wilton soccer cake with the patterns, any advice? What type of cake should I use and I don't quite understand the instruction of two-layer cake mix. Does that mean it would require around 10 cups of batter?

[B]You can use any cake mix that you want. 2 layer cake mix means any recipe that would make a two layer cake. Probably 8 in cakes.Probably anywhere from 8-10 cups if that is how you measure yours.[/B]

b) For the pattern on the pan, is it more helpful to use white/yellow cake or a darker chocolate cake to make sure that the patterns are visible after baking? Or does it even matter at all?

[B]Again, what you use it up to you. When I use a shaped cake pan I sometimes use a toothpick to trace some of the lines after I crumb coat. It gives me a guide and is pretty useful. Yours is a soccer ball so the pattern is pretty repetitive. [/B]

c) I have been reading that it's giving people trouble while baking in the sense that it doesn't bake well in the centre? I'm planning to rent the pan so I need to get it right from the first time, any advice on getting it perfectly baked?

[B]I used the smaller ball pan. It didn't give me any trouble at all. It took longer to bake in the center but that is normal. Make sure you use the rings obviously. I lowered the temp to 325 to make sure it didn't overcook the sides. [/B]

d) My idea was to put the half ball on an 8-inch round cake and decorate ball with star tip buttercream (because I absolutely love that look) and then the base cake with grass. I have seen a lot of gorgeous pictures posted here with realistic looking grass but it does not mention what tip was used for the grass. Wilton has the method using tip #18 but I really don't like that look. Any help? I have tried asking on the photos but it seems they were posted a while ago and I'm not really getting feedback.

[B]I use tip 233 for this cake http://cakecentral.com/g/i/3018276/a/3355752/buttercream-cake/[/B]

Sorry for all the questions but I'm sort of new to decorating and I really want this done nicely for my brother and his friends. Any help is appreciated.