Cake Mix Recipe for Shaped Cake Tin (14oz?)

Asked by izabellaedwards. Answered on 17th January 2011

Full question

Hi, I've taken on the task of baking a birthday cake for my friends son. I've hired a guitar mould, and the lady in the shop said I need to make up a 14oz cake mix to fit the tin. Can anyone help with a recipe for this please? I was planning to use the Victoria Sponge recipe from my 'Domestic Goddess' Nigella cookbook......but not sure on working out the right measurements to get the correct capacity for the tin! :-s any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Our answer

The guitar-shaped cake mould is most likely to have been made by the US company Wilton. Generally their pans are sized to take one regular US box of cake mix - these tend to be 18.25-ounce packages and usually make the equivalent of a 2 layer, 20cm (8 -inch) round cake so the Victoria Sponge cake recipe in Domestic Goddess should be around the correct quantity. When you put the batter into the cake tin it should come around 2/3rds of the way up the side of the tin. It is also worth looking at the Buttermilk Birthday Cake on p 210 of Domestic Goddess as this recipe is closer to a classic US cake mix and Nigella suggests making a double quantity of the recipe to fit a shaped cake mould (have some cupcake cases handy as if there is a little batter left over they can be baked into cupcakes if you don't want to waste any excess batter).

One point to note is that the shaped cake pans can sometimes be a bit tricky to turn out so we would suggest greasing it very generously and dusting the inside with a little flour (or cocoa powder if it is a chocolate cake). If you can find one of the US baking sprays such as Bakers's Joy or Pam For Baking then these are very effective.

Yo may like to check the Wilton website for this pan as it has some decorating ideas too. Unfortunately the measurements are American but 1 cup buttercream should weigh around 250g.

http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?sku=2105-570