Hi guys! I will be making my first larger cake this week. It is a wedding cake and the tiers are 6, 10, and 14 inch. I have heard that it might be necessary to use one of those heating cores for the larger 14 inch cake. Is this true? I don't want to buy too many unnecessary materials since this is really a one off occasion for me and I dont plan to be baking any larger cakes in the near future. That being said, I also dont want to skip any crucial steps so I will buy one if it is necessary. Just looking for some feedback and opinions on this! Thanks so much! You guys are life savers

I would suggest a metal flower nail or two. Put the flat side of the nail down in the pan and grease it. I bought a heat core a long time ago and I've never used it.

Thanks! Anyone else have any experience baking larger cakes and using/or not using a heat core?

Never used heating core before here. Lots of people on CC use the flower nail method. I highly recommend bake even strips also!

Luv the heating core. I recently used it in the base of my airplane cake (18 x 12 pan) and the cake came out perfect.

I use the flower nail so I don't have that hole in the middle - even though you can take the cake out of the core and put it in the cake - and bake even strips.

I think I will try the flower nail method! Sounds like a good idea Can you buy these metal flower nails at Michaels? Ive looked online and they didn't have any one their website.... they just had these 20 or 30 piece sets and the flower nails that were included were plastic!

You can get them at Hobby Lobby, so I am sure you can get them at Michaels too

I prefer flower nails. they work fine and you dont' have to replace a plug of cake.

My flower nails all had curved under edges to the bases. So I took a hammer and flattened the edges out. Now they sit perfectly flat in the pan.

I grease the pan and nail. Set the nail in, then place my waxed paper round or square over the nail, so the point pokes through the paper, but the base doesn't get baked into the cake. It also holds the nail steady while I pour my batter in. Makes it much easier to remove after too. Just flip the cake out of the pan and there's the base of the nail to pull out without having to peel the waxed paper off first.

I always use flower nails for my larger cakes; be it square, round, sheet, etc. I've never used a heating core, for the reason that I don't want a huge whole in my cake. My flower nails work just fine.

Yes...you can buy them separately at Michaels. They are less than $2 each...can't remember exactly how much..I wanna say $1.29. Anyways...I got mine at Michaels.

Yes...you can buy them separately at Michaels. They are less than $2 each...can't remember exactly how much..I wanna say $1.29. Anyways...I got mine at Michaels.