Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Easter Baking Pans (Vintage and New)


Following are pictures of some of my most treasured Easter baking pans, most of them are vintage but some of them are new and were modeled after the originals. I started collecting these baking pans many years ago.




These seasonal baking pans come in a variety of sizes and designs, there are sheep...


...and Easter bunnies with an Easter egg.



Some of them were are made of cast iron....


...and others are made of metal.


Then there are hens and roosters and more sheep, small one and bigger ones. But all have one thing in common, they are always two parts to each set, held together with metal clicks that have be be released after baking and in order to unmold the cakes before transferring them to the cooling racks.




Following is the translation of a recipe for a plain Marble Cake that I like to bake in these Easter baking pans. It was given to me in 1989 (the picture of the original recipe card is above) and I have been using it ever since.


Recipe for two Marble Cake Bunnies or Hens or Roosters or Sheep
(this recipe can also be baked in a Bundt pan, springform or loaf pan)


Ingredients for the Marble Cake
  • 200 grams (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 170 grams (3/4 cup) superfine (caster) sugar 
  • 1 package/2 1/2 tsp  pure vanilla sugar (or 2 tsp pure vanilla extract)
  • 4 eggs, use organic or free range whenever possible 
  • finely grated zest of a lemon, use organic if possible
  • 200 grams (1 1/2 cups) AP (plain) flour, sifted
  • 1/8 tsp fine salt (I use fine sea salt)
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

For the chocolate dough add:
  • 2 tbsp dutch process cocoa powder
  • 2 tbsp superfine (caster) sugar
  • 3 tbsp dark rum or milk, room temperature

Preparation of the Marble Cake
  1. Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
  2. Butter and flour your baking pans, knocking out the excess. Make sure to attach the metal clips to the pans before continuing with the recipe.
  3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy.
  4. Add the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
  5. Beat in the vanilla sugar or extract.
  6. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  7. Beat in the lemon zest.
  8. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, the salt and the baking powder.
  9. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix only until combined.
  10. Pour half the batter into the prepared pans.
  11. To the other half add the cocoa powder, sugar and rum or milk and mix only until combined. Do not overmix.
  12. Add the chocolate batter on top of the vanilla batter in the pans and carefully draw swirls through the batter to marbleize it. Very carefully place the filled baking pans on parchment lined baking sheets (to catch any eventual overflow) and slowly slide the baking sheets into the oven - holding onto the pans with oven mitts.
  13. Bake for about 45 to 60 minutes. Carefully take the pans out of the oven.
  14. Place on a wire racks to cool for about 10 minutes before removing the cakes from the pans to cool completely by releasing the metal clips first, then one side of the baking pan and then the other. Make sure to cut the cakes flush with the pans (using a serrated knife).
  15. Decorate as desired and use dark or white chocolate, just some powdered sugar or dessicated coconut for the sheep to give them that "furry" look.



These pans are just part of my ever-growing collection. And they are perfect for baking not only fabulous marble cake bunnies, but also vanilla sheep or coconut hens or chocolate roosters. The possibilties for baking delightful Easter cakes using these molds seem endless.

**********************************




24 comments:

  1. These are just precious--a work of love. Beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cindy, thank you so much - it would not be Easter at our house, if I did not bake sheep and bunnies and roosters and hens.

      Delete
  2. Oh Andrea. What a wonderful collection you have. Thanks so much for sharing these. Love the recipe card too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much, Cathleen, I had fun putting together this post and I do treasure the recipe card for the Marble Cake, dog-eared, stained and all.

      Delete
  3. Oh, I love your collection:) They are lovely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Geraldine! Collections just need to be put on "display" once in a while.

      Delete
  4. Oh, Andrea - these pans are beautiful! I bet you have a lot of fun with these.

    Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cher, the kids really enjoy their Easter bunny, sheep, rooster and hen cakes at this time of year and these seasonal cakes look nice as part of the Easter table.

      Delete
  5. These are just gorgeous. I would love to display them in my kitchen year-round! Thank you so much for sharing them with us today!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Monet - I have one or two of these cake pans on display year round because I do not have the heart to stash all of them away in boxes after the Easter holidays.

      Delete
  6. Such a wonderful collection, Andrea! They are beautiful! I had a friend who collected them many years ago, I was always so impressed with how lovely they were. I never realized you could bake in them…I thought they were for molding chocolate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kathy, thank you for the lovely comment - these are definitely cake pans and not chocolate molds and they are quite popular around here.

      Delete
  7. I love your collection...I'm sure you have created some lovely cakes with them. Happy Easter to you and your family, Andrea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Karen, hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend too!

      Delete
  8. LOVE all these molds. I have a lamb one from my mom...and I make a batch of fudge for Easter every year in it. I need to try a cake :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liz, these molds are fun, aren´t they - no better way to get creative during the Easter holidays!

      Delete
  9. What a wonderful collection of molds! The most difficult part is probably trying to decide which one to use. Such treasures and so is the recipe card.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Elaine - these Easter baking molds are very dear to me. I keep some of them on display year round - they are lovely to look at, not only at Easter time!

      Delete
  10. Oh my! I love old pans and molds, and I have quite a collection myself. I also adore rabbits. This post and your collection are magnificent. Your photo editing work is so perfect for your subject. Lovely, just lovely!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for the lovely comment - how wonderful that you also like those vintage cake pans and have a collection of your own. The problem with my cake pan collection is that it keeps growing and I seem to be running out of space soon if I continue adding more. But they certainly are lovely to have on display around the house, not only at Easter time.

      Delete
  11. These cake tins are amazing. I am going to start looking for one here. ~ David

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David, thank you for the comment - at least two Easter cake pans will find their way to your home soon, promised! Thank you so much for taking an interest in these!

      Delete
  12. Andrea, were these made for the purpose of chocolate candy molding or both? You have an amazing collection and I sense this is just one of many various collections you own. I used to have a collection of antique butter molds, heavy, one piece but opened (like a book) to be filled. Oh, they were fun to use during the holidays.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Mary, oh, yes, I do collect way too many things but it seems impossible to walk past some vintage cake pans and NOT buy them. The pans here were actaully made for baking cakes, these are not chocolate molds per se. I guess you could make some Easter chocolates with some of them but they are meant for baking.
      Thank you so much for the kind comment!

      Delete