Wilton Dora the Explorer Cake Pan: The Most Hated Birthday Ever
Written: Mar 20 '05
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Pros: It will match a Dora theme
Cons: Nearly impossible to work with
The Bottom Line: The Bottom Line still gets the shakes when looking at a picture of this pan.
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| pippadaisy's Full Review: Wilton Dora the Explorer Cake Pan 2105-6300 |
I've been making Wilton character cakes for over four years now, since my daughter's first birthday party which had a Blue's Clues theme. When she selected a Dora the Explorer theme for her fifth birthday, I didn't think a thing of it, and assumed it would be as easy as heading down to Michael's to buy the Wilton Dora the Explorer Cake Pan, and making her birthday cake just as I usually do.
::: The Pan in Question :::
The Wilton Dora the Explorer Cake Pan is not much different from other Wilton character pans in that it's an aluminum pan, shaped like the character it's designed to represent, and takes one boxed cake mix (or the equivalent 4 to 6 cups of cake batter) to bake. Indentations in the cake pan give the surface of the cake a raised texture to help the decorator figure out where the icing colors go in order to make the cake look like the character.
The Wilton Dora the Explorer Cake Pan is dishwasher safe, although I generally hand-wash all my Wilton pans just to be on the safe side.
::: My Biggest Problem :::
I will freely admit that I have a problem with following the printed design on the pan's insert, but at no point was it more apparent to me what a problem that was than when I was frosting the cake from the Wilton Dora the Explorer Cake Pan. To keep the packaging looking colorful and alluring, Wilton puts the colored cake picture on the "front" of the insert that sits in the pan, and the directions on the "back." The problem, however, is that the picture ends up being a mirror image of the actual cake, and the instructions show only the tiniest little black and white picture with arrows pointing to each section to be frosted.
For Dora, whose design is almost, but not quite symmetrical, I had a horrible time trying to figure out where each tiny detail went. The Wilton Dora the Explorer Cake Pan is the shape of a jumping Dora, with her hands up over her head, and her toes pointed. I'll confess that I dread cakes that have this long, narrow shape, because it usually means that the Wilton pan designers have crammed an insane amount of detail into a tiny amount of space, and the Wilton Dora the Explorer Cake Pan is a prime example of that. I like to think I have a fairly steady hand, but trying to re-create the tiny shoelaces on Dora's shoes when they are crammed together was nearly impossible.
In addition, much like the Thomas the Tank Engine pan, the indentations on the Wilton Dora the Explorer Cake Pan are not nearly deep enough, leaving it very difficult to figure out where the designs are supposed to be placed.
::: Tips and Tricks :::
• Be sure to wash the pan before its first use, paying special attention to the area where the adhesive held the instructions in place.
• Baker's Joy or Wilton Cake Release give the best coating for easy cake removal from these detailed pans. Wilton also has a new product called BakeEasy that looks promising, as does the new PAM spray, which appears similar to Baker's Joy.
• Use dark chocolate canned frosting for the black areas of any cake. The black coloring gel has a horrible taste, and the dark chocolate frosting allows you to use very little to achieve a true black, and covers up the taste very well. This is especially important with a cake like this one, where there are huge expanses of black, like Dora's hair.
::: If I Had To Do It All Over Again :::
In all honesty, if I knew how difficult the Wilton Dora the Explorer Cake Pan was going to be to use, I'd probably have opted for using either an edible cake image or creating a "scene" cake and using small Dora figures instead of using this pan. I'm hoping that no friends or family want me to use the Wilton Dora the Explorer Cake Pan again, because I dread the though of having to decorate this cake a second time.
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Other Wilton products:
3-D Rubber Ducky Pan • 3-Pc. Square Pan Set • 4-Piece Sport Ball Pan • Angled Spatula • Blues Clues Cake Pan • Cake Boards • Cake Circle 8-Pack • Cake Icer Decorating Tip • Color Mist • Decorating Brush Pack of 3 • Decorating Tip Cover • Decorator Preferred Separator Plates • Disposable Decorating Bags • Featherweight Decorating Bag • Filled Tool Caddy • FoodWriter™ Edible Color Markers • Geometric Crinkle Mini Metal Cutter Set • Kandy Clay Activity Kits • Large Decorating Tip Saver Box • Make Any Message Press Set • Pooh Icing Color Kit • Show 'n Serve Cake Circles and Serving Boards • Stand-Up Doll Cake Pan Wonder Mold Kit • Thomas the Train Cake Pan • Tip Brush
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 10.99
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pippadaisy
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Reviews written: 1085
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About Me:
Divorce seriously cuts into the amount of time for reviewing.
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