What shape would you like your cake? Gone are the days when a cake was either round or square, or just occasionally rectangular if it was a Battenberg. These days you can bake a cake in any one of a bewildering different variety of shapes and sizes. When the cake is baked and decorated it can be more like a work of art than a cake.

Think of an occasion and there is at least one, if not more than one, cake-tin to make something befitting it, making it that bit more special. Making a child's birthday cake provides an opportunity with the widest scope possible for interpretation and creativity, and it is amazing what can be achieved with a special shaped cake tins.

What child would not be impressed by a unique birthday cake especially made for them? It might depict their favourite cartoon character like Postman Pat or Spongebob Squarepants, or Wallee. A little girl might like a princess's carriage, or Tinkerbell themed cake, while a boy would be thrilled with a Nascar racing car, or Spiderman cake.

There are many other designs of novelty cake-tins available, all made in lightweight but durable aluminium which will last for ages. Amongst the other themes on offer are: a baby's bottle, animal crackers, baby buggy, cheerleader teddy bear, baseball glove, bunny rabbit, butterfly, care bears, princesses tiara, daisy, dinosaur, elephant, and enchanted castle. This is by no means an exhaustive list. If you go online you will find dozens more.

Another big occasion requiring a special cake is, of course a wedding. Buying a wedding cake is a major expense, but it is not so difficult to make your own with a few good cake-tins and some patience.

Traditional wedding cakes made in pillared tiers with a representation of the happy couple on top are always popular, but there is a growing trend towards more modern designs for wedding cakes. One recently seen in a shop window, cleverly used several decreasing sizes of rectangular cakes made to look like suitcases, one on top of the other, topped off with the happy couple depicted as two loving bears

A real wow at a recently attended wedding was a giant wedding cake made up of plated tiers of many individual miniature wedding cakes. The little cakes were separate but closely grouped to look like one whole cake. The big advantage was that there was little work involved in dividing up the cake and distributing it amongst all the guests. The bride and groom felt in no way diminished in importance by having only a small cake to cut into when making the traditional first cut.

Other special occasions that can be marked with a suitable celebratory cake include anniversaries, graduations, valentine's day, retirement, a christening, mother's day, father's day, and an engagement. Make the day special by baking a super cake in a special cake-tin!