I need help. It’s true. I have an addiction to buying bundt cake pans. I do love to cook and bake cakes often but although I don’t really use my bundt pans more than a couple of times a month, whenever I see a new design I want it. My favorite is my heavy-duty cathedral pan. It’s gorgeous and my poppy seed cakes come out looking divine (sorry, horrible pun but it’s true!).
My most recent acquisition is a cheap version of the sunflower pan which I haven’t tried yet. I also own a silicone bundt pan which is perfect for microwaving cakes and baking sticky concoctions like monkey bread, a rose- shaped pan which is great for strawberry or red velvet cakes, and one plain, ol’ regular bundt cake pan which has served me well but is looking a little worn.
I’m not quite sure why these pans hold my fascination. Deep down, do I long to be a pastry chef and create sweet, delectable morsels which are both beautiful and delicious? Is baking a cake some sort of metaphor for my attempts to complete a journey of discovery within my life? Or am I just silly and think that the bundt cakes are awfully cute when they’re done? Who can know. What I do know is that Williams Sonoma has a brand new sandcastle bundt pan that is calling my name. . .
What scares me is you say:
You make bundt cakes more than once every six or seven months! You’re insane!
And they’re tasty, oh so tasty!
Bundt pans, huh? Very interesting . . . .
Bundt! But of course! I’m a single man in his 40’s living in New York City, and believe me, it’s a hard crowd to impress that I run with (He’s 40, single, and owns a cat… figure it out..). But, it’s SO easy to impress folks with Bundt cakes. Who doesn’t have fond memories of them as a kid? I got the cathedral pan you mentioned about a year ago. I hardly use it several times a month, you just may want to start a 12 step program if you find yourself using the pans daily… Most recently, I got the sandcastle pan. It’s cooking away in the oven right now. Speaking of 12 steps, a friend has his 90 days tomorrow, so I’m going to put little flags on the corners with his name and “90 days”. I was googling for ideas on how to decorate (I think ice cream in the center would melt by the time the meeting ends!) and found your post. I generally use store bough mix, but have found recipes on line, and one of these days will get busy and make what is supposed to be close to the original “tunnel of fudge” cake. (please, no jokes on sexuality with that comment :)). Lastly, don’t forget to put a black cloth over your pans for a few days…. H. David Dalquist, the originator of the Bundt pan, passed away this past January, 2005. Happy baking! Garth
Thanks, Garth! Finally someone who understands my bundt cake pan fascination. I must admit that I have a couple of bundt pans on my Christmas wishlist and I’ve been good about not getting them for myself, well not yet at least.
I have made the
Tunnel of Fudge Cake and it is tasty. Never thought about the name much before but it’ll never be the same again.
Have fun with your sandcastle pan!
“Hi, my name’s Garth and I’m a bundt-a-holic”. Sandcastle cake was a BIG hit! Those queens are so easy to impress! I used a store bough mix for pound cake, which called for 2/3 cup of water; instead I used 1/2 cup orange juice concentrate and topped off the remainder of the 2/3 cup with water. I used spray olive oil in the pan, then sprinkled with flour. Was MUCH simpler than trying to get crisco into all the nooks and crannies of the pan. Cake fell out of the pan with not trouble when I turned it over. Dusting of confectioner’s suger, then decorated with store bought icing in the aerosol can (please don’t tell my mom, I’ll be out of the will!). Used Domino’s “brownulated” light brown sugar around the cake on the serving dish (it looks much more like sand than regular brown sugar). They were begging for more, so next week will use the Cathedral pan and ‘experiment’ with adding cranberry juice instead of water to a a store bough mix. Lord knows I can’t have it with vodka any more, so “let them eat cake”. I’ll let you know how the ‘cranberry project’ goes….
Welcome, Garth, fellow bundt-a-holic. I suppose there are worse things to be addicted to. Well, that’s what I keep telling myself.
The cake you made sounds great! PAM® For Baking has flour in it which saves me the step of flouring the pan and I’ve had good luck with it. Of course, it’s probably not quite as healthy as using olive oil . . . I bet the orange juice gave the cake a great flavor and gave the cake a bit of color too. It didn’t dawn on me to try a pound cake mix but that makes a lot of sense as pound cakes are much moister than regular cakes and a moist cake makes all the difference when trying to get as much detail to show from the bundt cake pan shapes. I’ll have to try it.
I can’t wait to hear how the cranberry juice experiment turns out!
OMG! I LOVE IT! I too have a sickness! People often think I’ve lost ALL sense when I’m in the kitchen touching my bundt pans! I love them! I love to make beautiful things! The funny thing is, I seldom eat the cakes I bake. I just love to BAKE! I cannot imagine my life w/o Williams-Sonoma or my BUNDTS! I’m so glad I found ALL of you! Now I can rest easy knowing that there are ‘others…’
UPDATE! Brylane.com has Nordicware Bundts on CLEARANCE! I snagged several pans for $15.98! I’m soooooo excited I could SCREAM!
Happy Holidays!
Thanks for letting me know about the sale. With our recent move to another state, I haven’t really had a chance to take a look but they still have the Fleur de Lis Bundt® Pan for $14.98 plus right now an additional 15% off. What a deal. Merry Christmas to me!
April!
Glad you made it in time. I visited the site this evening and it seems that a majority of the ‘collection’ has sold out. I suppose the Bundt Fairy decided I had spent enough.
I picked up the Chrysanthemum Nordic Bundt (today) and it bakes BEAUTIFUL to form. Found it at TJ MAXX, imagine that - $15.00. Be sure to cruise the aisles next time you are there. Happy New Year! Happy Bundt-ing! 