I don't have this pan but I have an idea in mind for a cake for my boyfriend's birthday next month. I thought about using the stand up bear pan (assuming I buy one before his birthday) and putting fondant on it to represent clothes. I'm just wondering how difficult it is to use this pan. Would I need to use the durable 3D cake recipe for this pan? Will it be easy to attach MMF to the bear cake?
I just got the bear today and it says that you can use regular cake mix. I am not sure if I was mistaken but that is what it says. I think depending on your skills whether it will be easy or hard. I really like the bear and there are so many different things you can do to it.
I made a bear for my first cake in Wilton's class 1. Make sure that you use a little more than 1 box of cake. I tried to skimp a little bit, but my bear wasn't totally filled out... also make sure you make a stronger, more durable type of cake. Both my legs broke off the first time I made this one! A picture of my first is in my photos...LOL. Good luck and have fun! 
I have several of the 3d pans including the bear and I always use regular BC cake mix, not docotored or anything. I do marble, yellow or chocolate and don't have problems.
I don't know about the fondant, I've never tried to dress him with that.
Make sure you use enough batter, they use more than a mix.
I love the bear, there's alot you can do with him.
Thanks for the responses. I'm just wondering whether I should do the regular bear pan or the mini one. I think it would be neat to have a smaller bear and then place it on top of a round cake, though it's not nessesary.
I also still would like to know if I need to use the durable cake mix recipe or if I could use the cake mix extender recipe for the stand up bear pan.
I have both and they're both cute and easy to use. I've put the little one on a round but he wasn't decorated as a bear, he was a wild pig.
I've never used either recipe but I don't do anything to make my cake mix more durable for the 3d pans so I would think as long as you aren't using something delicate like white you should be fine with either.
Put a little more batter in than called for, if the batter doesn't rise quite the way it should you will still have enough. Put the pan on a cookie sheet to catch any drips, it can overflow and sometimes the seams drip a little.
I have never baked the bear without the heating core but I have done the 3d Pooh and it turned out really good so you might want to think about leaving it out.
I also bake the cake at 325 instead of 350.
Have fun, the 3d pans are great.
I have both pans and have made them many times. The big bear I have always had good luck with a regular (undoctored) mix, but when I used a regular mix for the little bear it TOTALLY fell apart. I couldn't even save it and piece it back together. I say if your are going to use fondant, which is heavier than bc, I would go for a recipe that is a little more dense. By the way, I always used DH mix. Good luck.
Hey! I've made a few bears. I've never tried it without the core, but I'm going to try it next time - a lot of people say it turned out just fine. And if you do use the core - remove it once it's cooled. I kept it in for stability, but it ended up creating a gap between the bear the cake board at th bottom, which not only didn't look nice, but caused his little feet to break off cuz they weren't resting on the board. I read that someone fills the hole with jellybeans for kids parties and then "plugs" it with buttercream - which I think is a great idea!
Also, I tried a doctored up cake mix for the bear once and it didn't work right - so I've just used regular cake mixes (except white) and it turned out just fine.
As far as baking - I don't remember how long, but at least an hour, and use a bamboo skewer to test it.
Hope that helps! Have fun!
I have used the 3D bear pan a couple of times. I love it! The directions on mine say it's best to use a pound cake mix and regular cake mix together. That's what I always did and my bears never fell apart even when I did the frog cake and had to put dowels in the sides for arms.
You can get very creative with the bear pans. People make some amazing things with them. Good luck and let us all know how it turns out.
You've gotten a lot of good tips already, so don't know if this will add much. I used the 3D bear pan _without the core_ to make my husbands birthday cake. I had to bake the cake twice. The first time, I used the durable 3D cake recipe. One recipe of it is _not enough_ batter to fill the pan, so I ended up with a footless bear. The texture and stability of it was fine, so you could use it as long as you made 2 recipes (and used the excess to make cupcakes or something). The second try, I used a DH cake mix mixed with a pound cake mix (BC). This made a little more batter than needed, and I used the excess for cupcakes. It also had a fantastic texture and flavor. Definitely bake with the pan on a cookie sheet. Make sure to coat all the little details of the pan well with cake release or something similar. At 325 in my oven and without the core, the cake took about and hour and 15 minutes to bake. I used uncooked spaghetti strands as cake testers. They are long enough to reach the bottom of the pan. Hope this is helpful.
On average I bake the 3D Bear every other month and follow the Wilton instructions and the cake seems to come out good everytime. I always use the core but after reading this thread I would like to try the bear without the core. I just measure 6 cups of any cake batter in the bear then add 2/3 cups of batter in the core and bake for 55 mins at 350 degrees. HTH. 
I know you've already received a lot of tips on this. I was just going to say that if you're going to turn the bear into a person, you may find that cutting off the ears and shaving down the nose a little may help to get a more human look 
I did my first couple with the 3d mini bear pan this past w/end, and attached the fondant with syrup. I also cut off the legs, arms and ears, so that the cake ended up resembling a snowman ; )
I have done a clown as well with the large 3d bear pan, and also removed the ears, but this time i attached the fondant with a light coating of buttercream.
Hope this helps.
Here's links to the two cakes i was talking about
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo-46832.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo-87287.html
Happy baking!!!!
Nati
I have made several bears using the durable method and they hold up pretty well. Any time I have made them it was decorated in buttercream since I am not that good at fondant yet (I'm working on it). The pan itself is not hard to use at all.
I made the 3D bear cake a few weeks ago. my teacher told me to add an extra cup of flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup sour cream and 2 more eggs. This is to make it heavier. i baked it with the heating core, and didn't put any batter in the heating core. it was fine and stood up no problem. my friend put a cup cake up it's bum and it was fine too!
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