I bought one of those special cake pans. This one is shaped like Cinderella. I got it for fifty cents at a yard sale.

I have never made one before. Can anyone give me some tips? I do not plan on using a boxed cake mix. What types of cakes work best in these? How do you decorate them, and is it easy.

Also, are there any ways you can tint the frosting without using food coloring? I suspect I probably would not be able to do every color naturally. But would be open to suggestions. What is the easiest frosting to use.
I would like to not have to use shortening if possible. I don't buy it, since I can't find the trans fat free stuff at the store anymore.

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"The Christian does not think that God will love us because we are good, but God will make us good because he loves us."- C.S. Lewis

You can use strawberry juice to tint the frosting.I read it some where on a natural site.I use a plain cake mix in those pans.I always look up how to decorate them and look at lots of pictures to help me.I also use a pastry bag to do the frosting and do those dots of paint for the whole thing but just different colors where needed.

When we use one of the pans, we do a cold oven pound cake. That seems to do better than a plain cake mix.
For the frosting we use the Crisco icing because I can't stand whipped or buttercream frosting. For the colors, we buy the cake coloring which is a powder. The colors turn out much better than with plain food coloring. If you got the insert with the pan, it will tell you which tips to use on the pastry bag to decorate. If not, you can look it up online. You can usually get all the bags, coloring, tips, etc. at any craft store like Michaels.

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"When people can walk away from you, let them walk. Your destiny is never tied to anyone that left." Jakes

The directions for that pan if it is wilton are at wilton.com. All you need to do is put in the number on the pan for the decorating directions. You got a steal of a deal on that pan so congrats!!

You need a thicker cake to unmold the best. I normally use a mix and add buttermilk instead of water and apple sauce instead of oil. It works wonderfully.

I also use Wilton's buttercream receipe and their cake coloring, or liquid coloring that is only found at the cake store. It works the best in the icing and it really isn't that expensive, not to mention it will last forever.

It will be easy to decorate you will just need some tips and that is listed on the sheet you can print off of wilton's website. I believe they are 16 and mostly 3 maybe a 2 but I can't remember off the top of my head. They eyes will be the hardest but don't let that get you down. Even seasoned decorators have troubles with eyes.

Enjoy and I am sure you will become addicted just like I did!

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A Family of 5's quest to forget the Joneses.

ITA

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Thanks for the ideas girls!

But now I have another question. I have decided that I would suck at trying to do that using tips. I thought fondant might be easier. But I would still have to paint the fondant after I put it on. But I read a tip at yahoo answers that said painting color on the fondant gives you too much food coloring, and we aren't intended to ingest that much food coloring. So now I am torn. I really wanted to try fondant.

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"The Christian does not think that God will love us because we are good, but God will make us good because he loves us."- C.S. Lewis

you could color the fondant so you aren't painting it. But if you can paint the fondant I promise you, you can decorate the cake.

I took that same pan once and put a small layer of white chocolate in it, enough to cover the bottom about 1/2 and inch and tapped it to get the bubbles out and then put it in the fridge. After it set I put it on a rectangle cake and it was great. I had to put some icing in it for the necklace, dress, and hair but it was tons easier.

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A Family of 5's quest to forget the Joneses.

make sure you grease and flour the cake pan very well or when you go to pop out your cake you will have a mess.

I use a box mix but you can use a scratch cake mix as long as its a sturdy cake. you can use any frosting buttercream is the easiest to decorate with. make sure you keep the frosting cold thats the key.

fondant I think is more difficult to use just for the simple fact its not as forgiving if a mistake is made.

also bake the cake ahead of time (3 days or so take out of pan don't freeze in pan) wrap tight and freeze then the day before you need it take it out decorate it frozen it keeps any crumps out of your frosting for a polished look.

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SILENCE IS GOLDEN BUT DUCK TAPE IS SILVER.

You could always do it in fondant then peel the fondant off when you serve it so nobody is actually eating all the colors you used to paint the fondant. Just be sure to put a good layer of icing on the cake before the fondant.

I am really torn on what to do now. I don't really have the money to go out and buy tips. I don't have any. I have to think of something quick because her birthday is Thursday. OK, I just looked through the drawer, and I have two tips. I am going to do a lot of brainstorming today.
What is a cold oven pound cake? I will figure out what kind of cake I am going to bake, and bake it tonight, then freeze.
Can you make butter cream frosting without shortening?

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"The Christian does not think that God will love us because we are good, but God will make us good because he loves us."- C.S. Lewis