Help with birthday cake please

[ssgold]

I have 2 questions:

I am making the cake for my son's 2nd birthday using this Wilton star pan (http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?sku=2105-2512&killnav=1) I made a practice cake. I used the KA Yellow Cake recipe. The pan is deep and by the time the center was done, it was very brown and the points of the star were overcooked. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this?

I colored buttercream with red and blue to decorate the cake. The frosting stained everything! I am a little nervous about feeding this cake to toddlers in my house. I am not a neat freak but I know what my son can do with frosting! Would you go ahead and use the colored buttercream or decorate it with blueberries and strawberries (which stain too, but hopefully less). Will fruit be ok on top of buttercream? The Wilton recipe using fruit to decorate (http://www.wilton.com/recipes/recipesandprojects/4th/Star.cfm) uses whipped cream and it's too hot here for that.

Thanks in advance! I appreciate any suggestions or experiences.
Stacey

[sneezles]

Stacey,
How many cups is the Star pan? From the sounds of it you need a heating core. It's usually used on cakes 10" or larger but would probably help with your shape pan. It's easy to use.

http://www.wilton.com/images/yearbook/heatingcore.jpg


As to the frosting, what about using colored sugar instead of fruit. There are some that are allergic to strawberries. I think you could do the same pattern with red and blue sugars.

[Andrea_2]

I'm of no use with the baking question since I have that problem every single time I try to bake anything! However, regarding toddlers in the the house - When I had my son's party in April, the cake I made had a few different staining colors in it too. When it came time for the cake, I just had all the young kids sit at a table with a washable tablecloth. It worked well, and I haven't found any stains anywhere else in the house.

[ssgold]

Sneezles,
I'm not sure how many cups it holds but it is 11 inches across at the widest point. Thanks for the tip about the baking core. I am hoping I can find it at Michael's. I need it for Saturday so it is too late to order it online. Thanks for the colored sugar idea and for reminding me about allergies. My little guy and I have nut allergies so I should have been more aware!

Andrea_2,
If I go with the colored frosting, I will give the tablecloth a try! Thanks.

Stacey

[tea4one]

DId you use the wilton food coloring? I would imagine any food coloring would stain. Of course so will fruit. How about plain frosting with those candied decorations on top of it? Something like that might stain less.

[HealthyinMN]

You can also use a flower nail as a heating core - they are pretty cheap. You can spray it with nonstick spray if you want (if I forget, it still doesn't stick - but you never know!) Just place it flat side down and fill it up with batter. You can just pull it out when you are done - it works great for large cakes!

It looks like this incase you don't already know...

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000CFMUE.01-AVNF7U7GN6VQJ._AA280_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg