One upon a time it was only a Master baker, with a long apprenticeship and years of experience under their belt, who could produce anything beyond a traditional round, square or rectangular cake. Baking a standard cake presented enough problems for most people, yet alone trying to tackle elaborate shapes, letters or numbers.
Unfortunately, this meant the vast majority of people were missing out on something important. Although the taste and texture of a cake is essential, the shape of a cake can also be integral in triggering the correct emotional response. For example, ask yourself the following question: if you loved football, would you prefer a traditional square cake or one shaped like a football? The difference might be a nice birthday or a memorable one!
Then things suddenly changed and a world of possibilities opened up for bakers of all standards.
Shaped Cake Tins
Shaped baking tins (sometimes called novelty shaped tins or pans) have evolved into a myriad of designs and these have helped elevate the average baker to someone being able to produce works of art beyond their wildest imagination.
Although a range of shapes were possible with traditional steel or aluminium, it was the development of newer flexible pourable mould making materials such as silicone that made it possible to create an almost limitless range of cake shapes.
In fact, if cost is no object, it is possible nowadays to have bespoke moulds made, or upload a design and have a mould made to match it. Just remember to specify it is to be used for baking. Never used one designed for cold recipes for baking!
Therefore, if you are looking for a way to spice up your next cake baking endeavor, consider purchasing one of the many shaped cake pans that are available. There is absolutely one for each person’s unique needs and preferences that will suit any occasion, no matter what type of cake they want to bake.
But how do you choose the right cake tin shape given there is so much choice available?
You are aiming for congruence. This means the shape needs to match or agree with the occasion, the party theme, or the person the event is being held for. You will need to know something about the person, such as their hobbies or passions. Learning to generate ideas for the theme or person will be helpful. It’s not an exact science, but more of an art form or a gut instinct.
The following list shows the range of shaped cake tins available. There exists shaped bakeware for:
- All seasons of the year, including Christmas and Easter, e.g. Christmas trees, snowflakes, Easter rabbits.
- Many symbolic events in life, such as for the arrival of a newly born, coming of age, marriage and weddings, and even death and funerals!
- Many special days in the year e.g. birthdays, anniversaries, Valentines, Halloween.
- Children of all ages who love famous cartoon figures, characters from book, films and TV e.g. Disney, Marvel characters.
- Mathematical shapes, e.g. pentagon.
- People with hobbies, e.g. fishing.
- People who love sports, e.g. football.
- People into music, e.g. piano.
- People who love animals and pets, e.g. dog.
- People interested in specific genres such as sci-fi, horror, fantasy, e.g. dinosaurs.
- Amusement e.g. beer mug.
- Adult themed (use your own imagination).
When you try to buy shaped bakeware, you will soon discover that real world stores carry very limited stock. This is a type of product that is best bought online through stores such as Amazon and specialist suppliers.
Some designs are evergreen and available widely all year round; others appear briefly and are manufactured as a one-off enterprise or produced in small numbers. The latter tend to follow trends, which are transient by nature.
You can sometimes pick up a bargain shaped tin for something that is no longer fashionable e.g. a kids TV character from the 1990s. Who knows, but to an online specialist collector, these may be of value and you could end up making a profit by selling one on to them!
Caring for shaped tins is similar to traditional round or square shaped ones. Unless the manufacture states they are dishwasher safe, always handwash in soapy water using a non-abrasive cloth or sponge. Rinse and only store the tin if it is totally dry. Some people prefer to lightly oil the tin prior to storage.
Letter and Number Cake Tins
Once again, the best source for letter and number cake tins is through online stores. Standard letters and numbers can be made from steel or aluminium, but moulded silicone is usually used for more elaborate font designs.
All numbers 0 to 9 and letters A to Z are available and it’s even possible to get letters that are only suitable for specific languages, e.g. Ø used in Scandinavian languages such as Danish.
As with shaped cake tins, you can bake various types of cake in letter and number cake tins. The most common type is a plain sponge cake. A simple icing, which you can colour with food dyes, will give a nice finish to the cake. Alternatively, melted chocolate spread over the cake and allowed to cool is also effective. Fruitcakes are also a popular choice. Some people like to decorate the top of the icing (frosting) with sprinkles, fruit or even sweets (candy) or decorate it using edible food grade colouring pens.
