Novelty cake pans make it easy and fun to create interesting, unique cakes and cake designs. With normal pans, bakers might have to use a traditional round or rectangular cake and carve it into a special shape for decorating, but novelty pans save time on carving and shaping because they mold the cake into the desired shape while it's baking.
Where to Buy
You can often find used novelty pans or discontinued models at thrift stores or secondhand stores in many major cities. Antique shops are another good place to seek out used novelty pans. If you'd like a new pan or you're searching for a current model, you can buy online or at specialty cake decorating stores.
- Wilton offers dozens of shaped and novelty pans. Their products are sold in department stores, craft stores, cake decorating stores, and online.
- Williams-Sonoma is a gourmet cooking supply store that boasts a large selection of high end novelty pans. Options range from classic designs to seasonal options.
- Amazon has an extensive offering of seasonal and novelty pans from Wilton and other manufacturers. They acquire many products wholesale and can offer them at a discount, so their prices may be cheaper than you could find at other outlets.
Tips for Using Novelty Pans
Aside from their unique shapes and designs, novelty cake pans are like any other cake pan. Most are nonstick and are made from lightweight aluminum, making them easy to handle and relatively durable.
- Before baking with any pan, read the accompanying instructions through completely to familiarize yourself with how to treat the pan. Many have special guidelines that need to be followed. Some pans must be exclusively hand-washed, and others cannot be subjected to oven temperatures beyond a certain threshold. Other pans need to be greased before baking or cooled for a set amount of time before they are rinsed and washed.
- The amount of batter to put in a novelty pan varies. Most take the amount of batter in a standard two-layer cake mix, which will produce between four and six cups of batter. Some may take more and some less, so consult instructions before baking. Spooning the incorrect amount of batter into a pan could result in an overdone cake or a cake that overflows in the oven and drips beyond the pan.
Create Unique Cakes
Having a variety of novelty shaped cake pans on hand allows you greater freedom in creating unique cakes without possessing carving and sculpting skills.
