Cake pan hubris

In years past, I recieved one of these"Winter Fairytale Cottage" bundt pans as a Christmas gift. Of course, I immediately had visions of turning out delectable and interesting cakes decorated like this. Unfortunately, I lost the Gingerbread recipe it came with, and have been trying all kinds of cakes, none of which are sturdy enough to come out of the pan without tearing (the chimney is ridiculously thin,) sagging, or showing the detail appropriately.

Anybody have experience with detailed cake molds and some kind of interesting (lemon, fruit, gingerbread, pumpkin) cake recipe that will work?

I see that the Nordic Ware website has a recipe section, plus this instruction sheet on how to make a perfect bundt cake. On the other hand, I also see that your particular model has been discontinued, so maybe perfection is particularly difficult with it!

It is, indeed, a pain in my a**. I've found that I have to load up a pastry bag and pipe the batter into the chimney and the tips of the trees (one bubble and they look like...well, like Hansel and Gretel got to it before my guests. I did find a picture of this cake on Flickr, apparently baked by a professional, that has the same saggy look to it that mine often do...though hers actually smokes!

Thanks for the link, Ann - I'll check it out!

Hi,

Discontinued does not mean the manufacturer cannot reply to your query. I would ask for a duplicate recipe, then keep one in your files and store the other with the mold. Also scan a copy onto your hard drive. At least then you have three copies out there.

Regards,

From the Nordic Ware website:

Q: I have a Nordic Ware product but I lost the directions.

A: Call our consumer services department at 1-877-466-7342 8:00am to 4:00 pm CST and we will be happy to send you the directions in the mail.

They also have a "Bake a Perfect Bundt" PDF here:
http://www.nordicware.com/files/bake-perfect-bundt.pdf

Funny you bring this up today! I have the Nordicware Cathedral Cake pan. I have never successfully unmolded a cake from it...until today!

I made a rum cake (no nuts though) and followed those instructions posted above. I melted a few tablespoons if vegetable shortening. Painted the inside thoroughly with it. Floured it heavily. Tamped out all the excess flour. Filled it in one spot and guided it up the sides.

The cake is GORGEOUS! I will definitely make another for Christmas if it tastes as good as it looks.

In case any of you have baited your breath, I found this recipe for Meyer Lemon Cakeon the nordicware site that I'm going to adapt for my pan. While this recipe is exactly what I'm looking for (liked your idea, kafein, but I don't know that the kiddies will be down with rum) I won't be making one or two of the other recipes which make amusing reading:

Frozen Eggnog Pudding (First line: Drain Fruit cocktail.)
Glorified Rice (First line:In small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over water.)
The 70's are alive and well at Nordicware.

(If any of you are fans of the bundt pan as I am, this is still a terrific source of solid recipes, though - thanks again, Ann)

Mhays wrote:I did find a picture of this cake on Flickr, apparently baked by a professional, that has the same saggy look to it that mine often do...though hers actually smokes!

Out of sheer curiosity (and I can't even believe I'm reading this thread--but the title drew me in, and now I am in awe of all of you), how do you suppose the smoke was created? Is it some incense-like substance inserted into a cavity in the cake? The smoke in the picture resembles cigarette smoke.

I have no idea, myself - but I have a four-year-old niece who would be fascinated by it, so I've been brainstorming ideas...funny, my first thought was incense, but wouldn't it affect the flavor of the cake? Dry ice smoke would be perfect, but would probably cause the cake to be soggy, and it's a pain to deal with...I thought of just sticking a little votive candle in there (it is a pretty big hole) but I'm not sure how to make that smoke enough to be visible. Maybe flaming a brandy-soaked sugar cube? Or a votive containing heated soaked wood chips a la stovetop smoker? Hmmmm...

Amazing the lengths to which I will go to avoid decorating with frosting....

Mhays wrote: Dry ice smoke would be perfect, but would probably cause the cake to be soggy, and it's a pain to deal with

Dry Ice smoke is denser than air, therefore it will sink and not give you the effect you are looking for, plus it's toxic if you breathe a lot of it. Check with a model train store. As a kid, I remember getting these little white tablets that you would put in the chimney of a certain kind of locomotive (made by Lionel) that would emit puffs of smoke. I'm not sure how they worked, but I think it involved heating them up. You could aways go low tech and light a cigarette and stick it down inside the hole.

Hi,

For the dry ice, do you supposed they maybe tucked in some foil for the dry ice to dissolve on there? You don't need very much to get the action going. I noticed the Village Creamery at Oakton and Waukegan roads offers dry ice. Maybe they buy some or charm some small piece off of them.

You could also just have a small bowl of dry ice disguised under some holly or something. The mist surrounding your castle would have an eerie Sleeping Beauty Castle feel.

Regards,

the cake pictured on flickr was for display, apparently, either in williams-sonoma store or for their catalog. so presumably it didnt matter what it tasted like. i have no idea how it 'smokes', but i dont think the baker cared what it tasted like and could have used things to create that effect that would make the cake inedible. but i assume that mhays (and others who make these sorts of cakes), are interested in eating, not just displaying them.

justjoan wrote:the cake pictured on flickr was for display, apparently, either in williams-sonoma store or for their catalog. so presumably it didnt matter what it tasted like. i have no idea how it 'smokes', but i dont think the baker cared what it tasted like and could have used things to create that effect that would make the cake inedible.

In that case, I'm gonna say it was a lit cigarette stuck vertically into the chimney. Because that's what the smoke looks exactly like. And I'm gonna say it was just for a picture in a catalog, because I don't see Williams-Sonoma subjecting its customers to second-hand smoke.

that works for me!