Watching contestants create three-dimensional edible works of art during the Food Network Holiday Cake and Gingerbread House challenges last week inspired me to go above and beyond my usual holiday baking rituals. However, seeing as how I am both artistically and architecturally challenged, it was obvious I would need help. The Williams-Sonoma catalog (aka the foodie wish books) arrived just in time to solve my problem. The catalog showcased two new NordicWare baking pans designed exclusively for W-S and only available from them this season. The train pan makes adorable individual train cars, and the snowman pan renders a 12-inch-tall 3-D snowman that will stand on his own. Each pan comes complete with use and care instructions, plus a handy recipe designed to work with the equipment. The friendly, helpful folks in the marketing department at NordicWare were kind enough to send me samples of the pans, and we whipped up the two cakes for last week’s annual Chronicle holiday bash.
The train cars are absolutely too cute for words. With a little frosting for glue, kids could have a great time decorating the cars with mints, gum drops, licorice-whip train tracks, and chocolate-chip lumps of coal. We found the candies used in our decorations at the Lammes factory store (5330 Airport). The vanilla butter cake recipe makes enough batter for 18 little cakes, although we only baked half that number and arranged six of them atop a sheet cake for a more dramatic presentation. The recipe that comes with the snowman pan is a very good spice cake. Glue the front and back sections together with a flavored buttercream, and spread some of the frosting on a platter to serve as the base. Mr. Snowman will stand up in the frosting, ready for a simple dusting of powdered sugar snow or a more elaborate covering of different colors of frosting and flakes of coconut snow. Either way, he’s a tasty charmer.
These two fun new pans are only a couple of the many great ideas from NordicWare, the venerable Minnesota company responsible for that 1970s wonder, the Bundt cake pan. This season’s other new pans are a star, a football stadium, and an enchanted cottage (à la “Hansel & Gretel”) while last year’s specialties were a 3-D castle, a holiday wreath, and a Christmas tree. Look for them in the Chefs and King Arthur Baker’s catalogs, as well as at retailers that carry other NordicWare Bundt pans. You might not win a Food Network challenge, but you’ll have some fun and impress your kids and holiday guests.
This article appears in December 15 • 2006.