Novelty Cake Tins

Novelty and Shaped Cake Tins for Every Celebration

A novelty cake tin lets the shape of the cake do the talking. Number tins for milestone birthdays, letter tins for personalised cakes, shaped pans for themed parties — these are the pans that create the most talked-about results at parties with the least decorating complexity. When the tin creates the shape, your job as the decorator is finishing and detail rather than structure.

Browse the full range above, or explore our complete cake tins and pans collection including round tins, heart tins and professional brands.

Number Cake Tins

Number cake tins are one of the most requested novelty tin types in Australia. Used for milestone birthday cakes — 1st, 18th, 21st, 30th, 40th, 50th — and popular for combining two single-digit numbers to make double-digit ages. A number 1 tin and number 8 tin together make an 18th birthday cake; a 3 and 0 make a 30th.

Number cakes are typically layered tall and finished with cream, buttercream rosettes, fresh or edible flowers, macarons and other decorations placed across the top surface — the "tarte" or "picnic" style that has been enormously popular in Australian cake circles for several years. The number tin provides the shape; the decoration on top is where creativity comes in.

A good number cake tin produces clean, sharp numeral outlines that hold their shape through baking and decorating. Bake each number as a separate layer, allow to cool completely, then stack and decorate.

Letter Cake Tins

Letter tins are the personalisation play — spelling out a name, initials or a word in cake. A set of letter tins is a flexible investment: the same tins that spell "MUM" for Mother's Day spell "DAD" for Father's Day and individual letter names throughout the year.

Letter cakes follow the same decorating approach as number cakes — layered and topped with rosettes, flowers, fruit and decorative elements. They're slightly more complex to present than number cakes because multiple letters need to be visually cohesive, but the personalisation impact is significant.

Shaped and Themed Novelty Tins

Beyond numbers and letters, novelty tins come in a wide range of shapes suited to themed cakes:

• Star and star-burst shapes — great for superhero themes, Christmas and New Year cakes
• Round mini tins — for multi-tiered small cakes or individual portions
• Character face tins — shaped pans for character-themed cakes without complex fondant sculpting
• Specialty shapes — footballs, crowns, animals and more for specific birthday themes

Browse the collection above for the current range of shaped and themed tins in stock.

Decorating Novelty Cakes — What You Need

The decoration approach for most novelty cakes follows a similar pattern:

• Bake and cool completely — novelty shapes are fragile when warm. Fully cool before handling.
• Layer and fill — most number and letter cakes are made from two thin layers sandwiched with cream or buttercream. Use a piping bag to pipe filling evenly across the base layer.
• Top with decorations — fresh or edible flowers, buttercream rosettes, macarons, berries, chocolate shards or themed toppers. Use piping tips for consistent rosette sizing.
• Add colour with food colouring — tint cream, buttercream or ganache in coordinating shades. See our food colouring range.
• Finish with edible details — edible glitter, sprinkles or lustre dust add finishing polish.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are novelty cake tins?

Novelty cake tins are shaped cake pans designed to bake cakes in specific forms beyond standard round or square shapes. Number tins, letter tins, star tins, character-shaped tins and specialty pans all fall under the novelty tin category. They're used to create the shape of the cake during baking rather than carving or sculpting after.

How do number cake tins work?

Number cake tins bake a cake in the shape of that numeral. You typically bake two thin layers in the number tin, then layer and fill them with cream or buttercream before decorating the top. Most home bakers use a stand-alone number tin — baking each digit separately — and arrange the numbers side by side on a board or platter for the finished display.

Can I use novelty cake tins in a fan-forced oven?

Yes — novelty tins work in fan-forced ovens. Reduce the oven temperature by 10–20°C compared to a conventional oven setting (most Australian recipes give a conventional temperature — fan-force typically needs 160°C fan-forced where a recipe states 180°C conventional). Thinner novelty tin shapes may bake faster than round tins of the same volume, so check for doneness a few minutes earlier than the recipe suggests.

How much batter do novelty cake tins hold?

It varies significantly by shape and size. As a guide, a standard number tin holds approximately the same volume as a 6–7 inch round tin. Check the tin's listed dimensions and compare to a round tin of similar volume to estimate batter quantity. Excess batter can always be baked as cupcakes alongside the main cake.

Where can I buy novelty cake tins in Australia?

Baking Pleasures stocks novelty cake tins online with Australia-wide shipping from our store in Tweed Heads NSW. Browse the collection above for the current range. We also carry a broad selection of standard cake tins and pans and specialty shapes including heart tins and Dolly Varden tins.