Lovely!
If you want to refine your cake baking techniques then discover on our site how to make best use of the varieties of the cake baking pan. Cake baking pans come in seemingly infinitely varied shapes and sizes, and many different materials. Each choice available affects the outcome of the result. As a smart baker you want to learn about these different cake baking pans to be able to select which will help you achieve your desired masterpiece. The crust of the cake, how the pan is prepared, baking times, and even “crumb” is affected by the shape and material of he pan. Cake batter is a delicate and complex chemistry and is especially sensitive to changes in any of these conditions. The material, shape and size of the pans you plan to use must be accounted for as you decide what you are going for in your finished result.
We didn’t always have such a wealth of choices. I am sure many of us have a cherished cake pan or two handed down to us from our mother’s or grandmother’s kitchen. I remember well my mother’s and grandmother’s old style aluminum and pressed glass pans. One in particular held a special place in my growing up, and now my memories. My mother made a beautiful sweet cornbread. She had this really cool pie pan she always used for it and I would give anything to have now…it just vanished into the ether at some point over the years. It was so old even when I was very small, that the metal was black, though she kept it immaculate.
This gem was a 10″ pie pan; as to the metal, I am not sure what it was. It had a kind of seersucker texture, if you recall that old fashioned fabric. A narrow strip of metal called a slide was attached to the center of the pan, which then went across the bottom like a radius, then up the slanted side, and was anchored over the edge of the rim. This slide ended in a small loop handle which could be used to slide it all the way around the pan’s edge to free the baked item from the pan’s bottom. She loved to make cornbread and it was my dad’s favorite. After making her batter…Southern of course, she put a teaspoon of Crisco in the pan than put it on a burner. When it was hot she poured the cornbread batter into the hot grease then popped it into the oven. This gave her cornbread a gloriously brown and crispy crust. It was such a fine little piece and I have never seen one before or like it since. My guess is that it came from the 1920s or earlier and that she got it from my grandmother, or possibly even an earlier ancestor.
Since the time of our grandmothers, cake baking and the pans they are created in have dramatically evolved. Too many people have never experienced the pleasure of creating a home baked scratch cake and instead regularly employ boxed mix cakes. Though these cakes turn out beautifully every time and are delicious, there is something so earthy, so funky and fundamental about getting that mood to get creative in the kitchen, and deciding to spend that creative urge on a scratch cake.
Read more on Cake Baking Pan to discover how you can benefit from understanding the wide variety of cake baking pans and the wonderful accoutrements that go with that most joyful activity in the kitchen, creating a beautiful home made cake.