The Forlorn Cake Pans

What does one do with odd-shaped and themed cake pans?  It's sad to have them just sit in the cupboard dusty when their destiny is dedicated to cake-making.  I have many odd cake pans, and I wanted to figure out a way to use a couple of these pans periodically with just the right recipes.

One of the keys to using odd pans is making the right volume of batter for the pan.  There are many resources on the web dedicated to measuring the volume of your cake pan by pouring water into it, etc.  Any old baking hack can open up a box mix, pour some into a cake pan and make cupcakes with any excess batter.  I wanted a better approach.  I wanted reliable recipes that would make just the right amount of batter for the pan in question.

Let's start with Nordic Ware Flan pan.  I acquired this at some garage sale, or something, and it's exterior harvest gold color gives me some indication of its age.

The pan is based on the lovely theory that you can make a cake shell for a tart, but there is really only one (boring) recipe published for this pan:
3/4 c sugar

1/4 c butter

3 egg yolks

1 1/4 c cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 c milk1/2 tsp lemon extract.

Beat butter, sugar and egg yolks until fluffy. Sift dry ingredients, add alternately with extract and milk. Blend well. Pour into greased Nordic flan pan. Bake at 350 for about 25 min.

Now, for what it's worth, the standard recipe can be lovely. I've made it and filled it with lemon curd and freshly-picked raspberries from our garden. I've also used a creme patissiere recipe for under the berries (Martha Stewart's).

I wanted an alternative to a boring yellow sponge cake shell.  After a lot of thought and research, I landed on a brownie shell that could contain all kinds of goodies.  I found a recipe that turned out to work perfectly:

Brownie for flan pan

Ingredients:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup cocoa
1/3 cup butter
2 eggs
Recipe Directions: Melt together butter and cocoa 30 seconds at a time until butter is melted mixing as you go along.
Then combine all ingredients in one bowl mix well and pour into pan that has been sprayed with no stick spray.
Bake this for 15 minutes at 350* F.

Then, I filled this yummy brownie shell with a peanut butter filling:

Filling
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 Cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 TB. butter
1/2 tsp. PURE VANILLA EXTRACT
1/2 Cup heavy cream, whipped to thicken

Directions

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, butter and VANILLA until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream, gently turning with a flexible spatula until it is combined and smooth. Spoon into the crust and refrigerate until it sets, about 2 hours. 




The end result was this delectable dessert, which won many raves:

Next, it was time to tackle the valentine's heart pan.  This pan is too small for a regular cake mix, and I could do better from scratch.

It turns out that one of my favorite cake recipes of all times fits perfectly in this pan:



Fudge-Nut Brownie Cake

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts (I always omit these, but whatever floats your boat)
***GLAZE***
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
4 tablespoons dark corn syrup
2 teaspoons milk


Directions:
Grease and flour a 9-inch round cake pan (or your awesome heart pan!). Combine corn syrup and butter in a saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring continually. Add chocolate and stir until melted. Remove from heat. Add sugar, eggs and vanilla. Stir until well combined. Blend in flour and walnuts.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Loosen cake edges; turn out onto rack to cool.

For glaze, combine chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a saucepan; cook over low heat until chocolate melts. Remove from heat; stir in milk. Pour glaze over cake. Let stand. 

This recipe never fails me:

You can decorate with nuts, berries, mint leaves, or shaved chocolate.  But if you're just going to sit and eat it in front of the TV, be real and don't bother with any garnish.

Here is a small silicone Christmas tree pan I picked up at a Dollar Store.

It has such a small capacity I've been stumped and haven't used it since I bought it. I found a recipe that makes a small batch and gave it a try:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
Confectioners' sugar
Directions
In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Add egg and butter; mix well. Pour into a greased 8-in. square baking pan. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool. Dust with confectioners' sugar.

This recipe filled the pan a bit too high, and it overflowed while baking. Fortunately I had it on a baking sheet. Next time, make a couple of cupcakes. I had a tough time getting the cake out of the pan- next time really grease it well and let it cool a bit more before removing.

I frosted it with half a recipe of my favorite Better Homes buttercream with a bit of green food coloring in it.

For the Wilton checkerboard cake pan set, I've made a couple of cakes.

For the Betty Crocker Bake n' Fill set, I've used it to make a dome-shaped soccer ball cake.

I also used it to make a baked Alaska using a variation of a recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

Do you have any oddly shaped and intimidating pans out there?  Pull them out and get baking!