Hi ~

OK so the order for sunday is a clementine cake (Nigella Lawson is where I got the recipe) its just stewed and pulped oranges, sugar, eggs, crushed almonds and baking powder... so gluten free (yes I got gluten free baking powder) it normally bakes in an 8 inch spring form pan but I need to make a really big one... darn even as I type I already know the answer to my original question (was gonna ask can I quadruple the recipe and make it in a 14' by 14' pan thats 3' tall... but immediately what popped into my head was the image of the cake falling apart while I tried to turn it out of the pan.  

So my new question is how big can I make this cake and have it cook all the way through (also how big of a spring form pan can I get hahaha)? 

Ultimately my challenge is this: a friend has ordered a big birthday cake to serve about 100 people she wants it to be a Hello Kitty cake and for it to be a collaboration between myself and another friend of hers whom I've not meet before we are each doing different flavors but must have it end up as one cake, one Hello Kittty cake for 100 people.... I am specified to do the clementine cake... so any tips? Me and the boy doing the other half of the cake will get together Sunday during the day to moosh our cakes together and decorate it for the party that night. At present we do not have a design drawn up all we know I have already stated soooo Suggestions? Advice? anything??

If you google hello kitty cakes, there are a lot of cute tiered designs. If you and your partner did a 3 tier you could do a 8/10/12 which would keep you from having to try to make the gluten free one quite so big.  You could do 2 tiers one flavor and 1 tier a different flavor, just ask the person it's for if they would rather have more regular servings or more gluten free ones.

thanks ladyhawk917 - simple and smart... the client is, well, 'challenging' and sometimes high maintenance which sometimes disables my ability to reason effectively... luckily there is this and tonight you

what my cohort suggested via texts this evening was each do our own sheet cake and then decorate together; so I am exploring if I can bake a 12" round single layer 3" tall using a heat core in centre BUT if she no work... I switch to this idea.  yay thanks !

oh and the images I suggested are the classic and silly angel and devil on ones shoulder version of Hello Kitty... now if only I can locate a stencil that would make it even easier and faster..

AHi everyone, I joined this site after reading this thread because I'm a little concerned. If I'm reading this correctly you plan on putting a gluten free cake (complete with gluten free baking powder) with a gluten full and then decorating?

If this is the case then that spells disaster. Not in the way the cake will look but for anyone with celiac or bad gluten intolerance. There are far too many instances for cross contamination. (Both cakes touching, crumbs, tools, work surfaces, ect...) I have celiac disease myself and I know I would get sick for a minimum of a few weeks if I ate a cake like this. You should really contact your friend to see if anyone actually has celiac or gluten intolerance or if the people just have dietary preference. If it's the former then there really needs to be separate cakes, made with instruments that have never touch gluten ingredients for it to be safe.

Sorry if this sounds over the top, but I know if myself and my 4 year old daughter went to a party and were given a cake prepared in this manor and told it was safe, we would get very ill, for a very long time.

AHi aapoll thank you for your input - it was in fact just a preference and in the end the cakes didn't end up touching BUT I a.) should have stated the preference over necessity in the first place and. b.) very much appreciate you taking the time to address this because I don't know what it's like for you and people afflicted with celiac disease and it wouldn't have occurred to me that I need seperate utensils because it is so rare that anyone orders glutten free from me and so far it's just preference vs necessity so thank you for informing me.

A[IMG]http://www.cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3309705/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

The gluten free Clemintine cake is the bottom one... really simple in the end our effort to get together failed so we both made cakes by ourselves and I was expecting the other guy to show up with a 12" round cake 3" high on which we'd have put an angel hello kitty but he did his own thing in a fly by the seat of ones pants so that's what occurred in the end;) oh yeah I brought all the frosting to the party for my collaborator to frost his cake with.

AMimifix I actually don't advertise or openly offer gluten free but if someone asks if I will I tell them my only gluten free offering is the clemintine cake because it's delicious and I make it anyway... It's incedental that it's gluten free... What I am learning from this posting though is that celiac disease is a much more serious and cumbersome situation than I ever knew and that even with friends casually ordering gluten free for preference it would be best for me to be very clear that my offering is not suitable for celiacs and that should I ever decide to offer gluten free it will take research and diligence in the kitchen. Thank you.

thank you for that.  while some people may be on a "gluten free" kick because it is popular, there are many others who have very serious reactions to gluten and it ultimately threatens their lives.

so good for you, that you are responsible enough to do the research and just not  casually say "gluten free"

cheryl