Needed to borrow - 1 shaped cake tin for first bday

[byngo]

Hi

Does anyone have a 1 shaped cake tin that I could borrow or hire for a day or two this coming week to make my daughter a 1st bday cake. I have looked into buying one and they cost about ?25 quid and will only probably be used once or twice so wondered if any kind soul out there might have one I could borrow. Happy to donate a bottle of wine in exchange. Thanks

[pebbles]

Hi Byngo

Not exactly one cake but i've got teddy bear baking tray that makes 6 teddy bears and I did this for my daughters 1st birthday and decorated them with icing and smarties etc.

You are very welcome to borrow, no wine needed but maybe a bear for my son!!! Live on Friern Rd and we are at home all day today if you want.

Sally

[ClareC]

My friend and I hired one from the cook shop at the bottom of LL last week for our kids joint first birthday party last Sunday, wouldn't recommend it though! The tin had no base. I actually asked the assistant about this at the time and was assured by the assistant there that just placing a baking tray underneath would be sufficient - it was when the mixture was poured in but seeped underneath during cooking losing half the cake!

Upon inspecting the tin afterwards it didn't stand completely flat which was probably the issue. I advised the manager of the shop when I returned it, he did waive the ?3.50 hire charge but was very rude and clearly blamed us rather than his shoddy tin - claimed it had been hired out hundreds of times before and nobody had ever had a problem (If hired out that many times may explain why past it's best!). He also asked if we had lined it, claiming his staff would have told us to do so (she didn't even when specifically asked) and claimed our mixture must have been too runny....... needless to say, I dont think he will have replaced the tin!! "Hundreds" of hire clearly not being enough return on a ?25 cake tin!!

Couple of my friend's used a rectangular tin and cut the shape out from that - both worked really well :-)

I am making my daughter's actual birthday cake today ready for tomorrow, let's hope my shoddy cake making abilities are up to scratch ;-)

[byngo]

Thanks for posts. Will check out shop on ll. Do you mean green cuisine? I've done a name cake with letter tins like that. You do need to line and does still ooze but not too much. Also a dense cake like carrot works better than a light sponge. Fingers crossed for us both clare. Sally thanks for offer but I'm going to try the 1 and have a back up ready just in case !

[amyw]

hi,

i made a teddy bear cake for my nephew and it just uses 2 x round tins and 2 x cupcakes (well 4 as inevitably i ate some). basically you make 2 large round cakes, then you take a side plate and stick it upside down on one of the cakes and cut around it leaving a 'crescent moon' of cake left over. the big circle is the body and the small circle is the head. the 'crescent' that is left is meant to do arms and legs but i found it too small - possibly used too big a plate. so i used it for arms only and then stuck 2 upside down cupcakes on his belly to be feet. which i liked better.

then jaffa cakes on feet and hands if it works. can send you a pic if you think you might be up for this 'cobbled together' version but i promise it looked very nice and tasted even better with melted chocolate frosting! i have a picture of hthe pattern somewhere. let me know if you want it.

also, the best cake recipe i have found for shaped cakes is the Nigella 'birthday cake' recipe in how to be a domestic goddess. it holds its shape well without being too heavy. and is really delicious, as its quite plain so it helps cut the icing overload of all the decoration!!!

let me know if you want any details.

[pebbles]

that sounds lovely amyw - pls can you post piccie cos i'd like to try that out

thanks

[womanofdulwich]

It is much easier to make a big "roasting pan" cake and then cut out the number you need. No fear of any of the excess cake being wasted if a no 1 cake just cut in down the middle and sandwich together if you need to. The cost of makiing a bigger cake than you need and eating the spare bits is much cheaper than the cost of hiring a tin,

[amyw]

sure, do you want to PM me your email address and i will email it to you. (its on my phone so not sure how to post it here)