I've been asked to make a full spherical football cake. my problem is going to be getting a nice round sphere!

i've heard that you can buy spherical cake tins but haven't seen anything over 4inches (and they seem to be very expensive!).

i could just use my 7 inch sandwich tins and make a lot of cakes (i think i will need at least 6!), stack them up and carve them into a ball but i have some reservations about this method. one is that i wouldn't be able to get a nice shape and would keep chopping it down until im left with a tiny cake!

I wondered about making the cake in a pyrex bowl. has anyone else tried this? does it work?! it would give me a reasonable shape and save a lot of waste cake if it does work. all i would need to do is cut the tops level and stick two together!

what do you guys recon?

You should be able to buy the Wilton sports ball pan in the UK I think. But I have seen posts on here where people have successfully baked in a Pyrex bowl, but I have never done it personally. You'd have to grease the bowl pretty well I think!

I've had a look and you can get the Wilton ball tin but it is quite expensive and take a while to ship to the UK and i only have until next Wednesday to complete the cake!

Has anyone used a Pyrex bowl for baking before?!

i used pyrex before to bake the ends for my ball of wool cake (in my pictures), and had no problems. Definately grease the bowl well and make sure there are no cracks/chips. I did alot of reading before hand and pyrex can shatter due to heat changes if there are cracks. I think the breakages occur when there is a sudden change in temp, so warm the bowl before using for baking (i just popped it in the grill above the oven to warm through while i prepared the batter). Once you take the cake out the bowl, let it come back down to room temp before washing.
HTH
Sam x

Thanks Sam! i'll give it a good greasing and flour it. i might even lay a couple of strips of greaseproof paper in a cross to help me lift it out and prevent the very end from sticking!

My Pyrex bowl (well the one i'm planning to use!) is a 6 inch bowl has a nice surface; no scratches of scuffs like my older larger bowls!

no problem let me know how you getting on as I have a got a teapot cake to make next month in pyrex! x

Well i made the two halves of the cake last night and it worked perfectly! to begin with i did what was suggested and warmed the bowl by putting it in to the oven as it preheated. when it was time to put the mixture in i took it out, greased it with some spray oil and put two strips of greaseproof paper (baking parchment) in a cross across the bottom of the bowl. unfortunately the heat of the bowl "melted" the cake mixture on contact and made a bit of a mess while i fought to keep the paper strips in place!

Dont use paper strips! the cake came out fine without them anyway and they were way more hastle than their worth! having said that, my bowl was wonderfully smooth on the inside and i greased it up pretty well! i would also just use hot water perhaps to warm the bowl as putting in to the oven got it too hot to handle really!

i found that 600g of cake mixture was the right amount for my 6 inch bowl (i did lots of maths before hand to try and estimate how much i needed but nothing beats just putting it in and guessing by eye!) it filled the bowl 3/4 full and when cooked the top rose just above the rim

it did take 45 mins to an hour to cook but as it was a pyrex bowl you could actually see the cake gradually go golden right to the bottom!

all i have to do is buttercream to two halves together and neaten it into a more spherical shape!

i think it would work perfectly as a teapot (without needing to carve it!)

hope this helps!