Hi there, I am a very beggining cake decorator and I'm making a "fishing vest" cake for my BIL this weekend. I am using the T-shirt cake pan and I was wondering if shaped pans can be torted or if it's more trouble than what it's worth? I've torted round cakes, but never shaped cakes. I'm afraid of crumbs!
Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Leslie W.

I've torted shaped cakes many times. I use a dense cake recipe (like the pound cake recipe with DH cakes). I make sure it has cooled completely, torte and slide the top onto a large cookie sheet without sides on it. Then I fill it and replace the top. The hardest part is if there are areas that the cake is much thinner than other areas, so I usually torte with less cake on the bottom than the top to avoid breaking it. I don't know if that makes any sense!?! HTH!!!!

[quote="MissT"]I've torted shaped cakes many times. I use a dense cake recipe (like the pound cake recipe with DH cakes). I make sure it has cooled completely, torte and slide the top onto a large cookie sheet without sides on it. Then I fill it and replace the top. The hardest part is if there are areas that the cake is much thinner than other areas, so I usually torte with less cake on the bottom than the top to avoid breaking it. I don't know if that makes any sense!?! HTH!!!![/quote]

So what you mean is that your top layer is thicker than the bottom layer?

Depending on the cake, yes. If there are a lot of dips in the shape of the cake on top, then I have found it necessary so that I am not slicing through the high parts, hitting a dip and ending up cutting a piece of the cake completely off. I wish I could explain this better. Take the pan you are planning to use, put it upside right on the counter (top up) and act as if you are going to torte it. It will become apparent if the top will have dips that would cause pieces to be shaved off rather than remain a part of the whole top. This happened to me with the storybook doll pan - the feet were higher than the dip for the ankles and I cut the feet off seperate from the rest of the cake top. That is how I learned to look for those dips before cutting. HTH.