Hi! I'm VERY new to cake decorating and to CC (just joined today, after being glued to it for the last 2 days!!! Sooo much information!). Anyway, getting to the point (!), I am making a Dora Birthday cake on Friday and am using a chocolate cake mix which is for two 7" round pans, but I'm baking it in an 11" square pan, so I'm using 2 boxes (if my maths is OK, that should be about right). The box says to cook the two 7" cakes at 375 for 15 minutes, but I don't think this will be right for a double amount in an 11" pan (quadruple really as I'm not splitting the mix in two). Does anyone have any experience of this? Should I increase the cooking time and/or the temperature?

Please help as this is the first cake I am making for someone outside the family, and I really want to impress!

Welcome Kelly! Glad to have you here - joining us fellow addicts. Yes, you do want to increase your baking time, but not the temperature. I'd check in at 5 minute intervals after about 20 minutes - maybe someone else knows the exact time? I still guestimate with my cakes.

I make 11x15s all the time with two cake mixes. I always set my bell for 25 minutes, I open the oven door and usually when I just touch the oven rack, I can see that it's a little jiggly (obviously not done) then I set the bell for about five minutes and check with a toothpick. Sometimes I need to still go two or three minutes more. So, I'd say it will bake in 30 minutes or so.

I suggest bake-even strips. If you don't have them, you can cut up an old towel into strips about 1 1/2 inches. Wet it with cold water and put it around the cake pan holding it on with binder clips. Your cake will rise evenly and stay as moist in the corners as in the middle.

Welcome to the forums!

BLESS YOU Vienneaus for the tip about binder clips for bake even strips!!! I cannot tell you how many curse words I have gone through trying to get those doggone things to stay put! I never thought of that. DUH.

You made my day!

Thanks for the welcome and the advice!

I can't wait to get started on this cake! I'm planning on trying a FBCT on this for the first time to. The cake I did for my daughter last year was Homer Simpson, I didn't know about the FBCT method, so I iced it freehand using buttercream - I think it turned out pretty well, though the icing was a bit 'rough' looking, I've posted it in my pics.

Wow ... TheVienneaus , binder clips are a GREAT IDEA!!!! I always attach my teflon strips with straight t-pins, but they don't always hold very well. I am so excited to bake my next cake and use the binder clips!!! (now if it would only cool down a little bit outside so I can turn on the oven ...... )

What are binder clips? I'm from the UK (live in Ireland now though) and I've never heard of half the stuff thats mentioned on here, they all sound like marvelous but mysterious gismos and ingredients!!

Kelly75, a picture is worth a thousand words. I'm sure they have them in the UK by a different name.
http://www.candylandcrafts.com/images/binderclips.jpg

So to the rest of you, I tried using those stupid pins and found the strip falling off the pan when transporting it to the oven. I place my binder clips on the pan about an inch from each corner and another wherever the strip ends. They get a little cake on them, it wipes off easily; but I have some I use EXCLUSIVELY for cake.

Thanks TheVienneaus! Yes, I know exactly what binder clips are now! I wasn't think of stationary-type stuff - I'll grab a few from the office! A picture really is worth a thousand words (I don't actually know what we'd call these!!)

Thanks again so much, now my cakes should be moist throughtout (with any luck!) instead of having those crispy corners!!

There would be no way I would bake any cake that big (11 inches) at 375 degrees! The outside will be crisp while the inside will jiggle! You did not mention if this is a 2 or 3 inch deep pan.

If it is a 2 inch deep pan, you may get away with baking it at 350 degrees, if it is a 3 inch deep pan, I would not even consider baking it at anything higher than 325 degrees, at least until the last 10 minutes, then turn it up to 350 to make sure it gets done in the center.

Theresa

It is a two inch pan - I'm going to make two cakes, torte them and then stack them to make three layers of filling (it is going to feed a lot of people!). How does the depth of the pan affect the cake if you put the same amount of batter in to a 2" or a 3" pan?

I've never used a 3" pan but I would assume it would be the same as if you put one mix into a pan that needed 2 mixes, it just wouldn't rise to the full 2".

http://www.wilton.com/cake/cakeprep/baking/times/party_2inch.cfm

Here is a chart to let you know how much batter and baking times for most basic pan shapes.

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on this, I dropped the cooking temp and increased the time and the cakes came out perfect. I put two 11" square cakes side by side (don't have a big enough rectangular tin) and did my first ever FBCT. It took a while as the heat was making my bc melt, so had to keep putting it in the fridge, but it turned out pretty good (I had to patch a few places where I made it too thin, but I'll know for next time). The little girl was thrilled with it and everyone at the party was very impressed, so I'm over the moon - now to plan the next one for my daughter's 3rd birthday next month! Here's a pic

Wow it look great!

nice job-that was a HUGE FBCT!!

Very nice!