Nordic Ware 3-D Turkey Baking Pan, Medium, Bronze

This cake mold is quality heavy-gauge aluminum and is as realistic as 3d molds allow.Here are my comments and suggestions to achieve excellent results:1. Use the recipe that comes with this cake pan: The recipe makes enough batter to fill the mold correctly (a standard box mix will not) - plus it makes a great, moist and tasty pumpkin-nut cake.2. Be careful with the recipe: Two ingredients (apple sauce and vanilla) are listed but not mentioned when wet ingredients are combined. So remember to add them at that point. Also chop the walnuts into small pieces.3. Grease the pan liberally with Crisco or equivalent vegetable shortening. Flour liberally but be careful not to fill mold crevices. My cakes came out of the pan perfectly with all mold detail intact. (Note that with such intricate detail you may omit frosting altogether and simply coat with powdered sugar if so desired.)4. Fill the pans correctly: Spread the batter from the middle out to the edges, especially to the base, head and tail tips. When filled the middle can be lower than the peripheral edges because the cake will rise in the middle in any case - and you need to cut off excess so that the two halves fit together.5. Bake long enough but not too long: The baking time will take longer than the directions indicate. I believe mine took 20 or so minutes more. After the first toothpick test, continue baking and checking every 5 minutes until the toothpick-in-the-middle test comes out clean.6. Always use an inverted cookie sheet to remove the cake halves from the mold. Otherwise you'll face the possibility of a broken turkey base.7. Use canned frosting for ease of decorating: On this first attempt I bought chocolate for the body and cream cheese for the other colors. Next time I will only use plain white frosting and then color it. That's because I want lighter shades of brown for the feathers plus I think white frosting will better accompany the cake's pumpkin flavor. Cream cheese frosting does not hold its shape well enough or harden as good as regular white frosting.8. Use varying sizes of petal cake decorating tips for the feathers: I had only one size this time - Wilton 104 petal tip. Next time I will use petal tips 101, 102 and 103 to create incremental changes in feather size.9. Photo of my first attempt: [...]

If you have a large family, you'll need a couple of these, but for a smaller gathering, it's a nice size. I love Nordic pans because for all their intricate details, they aren't hard to clean. Since it can't go in the dishwasher, this is an important feature to me. I used it once this past holiday season and the cake came out perfectly. I haven't perfected decorating it yet, but if I have to be in the kitchen cooking, I at least want something cute to come out of it. lol

The Nordic Ware molds are excellent, they last forever and make clear designs and are easy to use! Make sure to oil the pan well and sprinkle with flour before pouring the cake mix! You can use a box mix but make sure it is the one for a pound cake, there are also many other good recipes that would work but choose a good "solid" type cake for the pan! Since this is a seasonal item I will use the turkey mainly for Thanksgiving but I have a lamb mold that was my Mom's that I use to bake a cake every Easter and I cannot even guess how old it is, the cast iron is indestructible!!! This is the first time I have used a two piece mold, all the others you pour into the mold and put the top on and the cake rises into the top part, so this may be a little tricikier to use than the two piece molds, so you will have to be a bit more careful when removing both pieces and then joining them together. other than that I look forward to using this cake pan for many years to come!

Love the quality of this unique cake pan. Cake pops right out, fun details show up really well. Easy clean up with soap and water. My turkey cake has become a new family tradition.

Bakes perfectly stable and fun to decorate. Great centerpiece for the thanksgiving dessert table!

So it takes a couple times baking to get the hang of it., ( if you are a novice like me)But I have impressed some folks with this awesome concept and design!Looks awesome in a wooden plate or platter with a Cheeseball with crackers .Also hilarious to watch people dig into it.Everyone always wants to take off the head first , haha.Any how I’ve gifted two of these now. It’s actually something people want to see often at holidays lol.

With the fabulous reviews this pan got I thought I'd have no trouble making a fun Thanksgiving desert for my grandchildren. Good thing, I decided to practice a bit ahead of time.......The head burns, the body doesn't cook all the way thru. The cooking time on the recipe just isn't accurate. You have to cook cake/bread longer and watch VERY carefully to catch before the head turns to a crisp. It does come out of the pan easily and most of the detail is captured but not enough to get a real WOW. I wouldn't buy it again. I wouldn't gift it. As a matter of fact, as big as it is and the poor results I have had 2x mine may find its way to the local thrift shop real soon.

Easy to use (following the directions). Guests loved the pumpkin cake recipe. Hard to decorate, but a sprinkling of powdered sugar looked and tasted good. Used the frosting to hold the two sides together (worked great) and had the rest on the side. delicious!

I love this pan. I have a few Nordic Ware pans, and I love all of them. I use Pam baking spray in them, and nothing sticks, cakes come out perfect moulded. The cream cheese icing recipe that comes with this pan "glued" the two pieces together nicely. I have used the recipes from my other Nordic Ware pans interchangeably, and the cakes always turn out perfectly!

I love this cake pan. It is already being requested for Christmas.

This was a fun cake to make. I probably won't use it more than once or twice a year, but when I do it will be fun.