I love my Wilton Stand-Up Cuddly Bear Cake Pan Set. I purchased (it was purchased 31 years ago, and still looks like new) my Cuddly Bear Cake Pan Set through the Wilton catalog, and made it for my son’s 1st birthday.
I had never used anything like it before, step by step instructions came with the set, telling you how many cups of batter you would need, what type of cake recipe to use(I used a cake mix from scratch) the temperature to bake at and for how long and how to use the clips to put the 3 pieces of the bear pan together. There is a front and back of the pan and there is a funnel to insert into the cake at the bottom of the pan (it looks a bit like a funnel shaped tube this is to help bake the inside of the cake. The crazy thing is that you have to back the bear cake upside down. The front has the head arms, tummy and legs/feet. The back of the pan is the back of the bears head, shoulders and his bottom.
Preparation: Grease and flour these pans and the element heavily, it helps prevent the cake from sticking to the pans. The sides of the bear cake pans will stick in the cracks and crevices if you don’t make sure you get the crisco and flour in them. I myself have had no problems with the cake sticking to the pan. But, I can see where it could stick in the cracks and crevices if you don’t grease and flour well.
Clean-up: wash by hand or dishwasher. If using a dishwasher make sure you weight the pans down with something heavier like a plate. Wash by hand, make sure you get into all of the cracks and crevices to get any built of crisco and flour out of them.
Once the cake was done baking I took it out and let it cool in side of the pan (I also released a few clips to help cool and eliminate the heat, (I had greased and floured the pan). When the cake was cooled, I stood the cake on top of the decorated cake board I was using leaving the element inside of the Bear Cake. I had set my decorated cake board on top of my turntable to make it easier to decorate and began to take the clips off of the pan. I slowly pulled one side at a time away from the cake. Once removed I had a nice sturdy bear that needed to be decorated, all I had to do is turn the turntable as I was decorating.
Once of my favorite tubes to use is the star tube. I had my frosting all mixed up and colored in brown, pink and in white. I followed the lines on the bear and outlined them with brown stars. Once they were all outlined I started to fill in the areas with the brown stars. I added a little white tummy and white to the eyes. Took a little pink and put it inside the ears and on the bottom of the feet. I took white and put it around the nose and mouth area. And made the mouth, nose and eyes with a smaller star tube. When I was finished. My son had a Cute Cuddly Bear Cake for his birthday. When cutting the cake I started at the top and worked my way down to the bottom being careful of the element inside of the cake. This worked out well for me.
You can also change the bear into, a kitten, tiger, panda bear, or even a puppy. By just changing the ears to make them pointed, by adding a few more stars to shape them into pointed ears, add stripes for a cat or tiger(add string black licorice for whiskers, make the panda bear in black and white following the shape of the cake and by looking at a picture of a panda. You also can make a tail for these animals out of frosting. I am sure after all of these years they have come up with different decorating ideas. Contact Wilton.com for different decorating ideas. It is fun to see what different animals you can come up with. The pans are light weight, and very sturdy, with a funnel and clasps to keep them together while baking. They also are very easy to clean.
Storage: Store the 3 pieces inside of each other the front, back and then the funnel and clips. I like to take a plastic bag and put the pieces in it, so pieces don’t get lost.
Amount Paid (US$): 12.00
Calls for: 6 2/3 cups of firm textured batter.
Includes: 6 clips
1-heat-conducting core and instructions.
Pan is 9 1/2 x 8 5/8 in. deep. Made of Aluminum.
Can be purchased through Wilton.com,
Some pans can be purchased at Walmart (in the craft section)
Ben Franklin, and Hobby Lobby
