Giant Cupcake Pan Invading Homes Across America?

This is an emergency message from the Culinary Warning System! If you have children in your home, you may be at risk of being invaded by the Giant Cupcake Cake Pan. This pan has been known to follow mothers home after appearing cute and adorable in kitchen stores across America.

The suspect goes by the name of Giant Cupcake Cake pan by Wilton. It has been known to use the alias Dimensions® Large Cupcake Pan.

What are we to do with this thing? First let’s start with the basics.

As an avid baker, I am always looking for new ways to remove the boring cake from my repertoire.

This fun bakeware pan is made of heavy duty cast aluminum. In general, I love these type of pans. I have several styles of cast aluminum bakeware pans that are used for baking cakes, pound cakes and quick breads. Some of the most popular are made by Nordicware.

In this case, Wilton has created a unique, whimsical shape that is both cute and functional. As the name suggests, the pan looks like a large cupcake that has been split in half. This unique design feature allows for even baking throughout and for easy construction after it is finished. The “bottom” has vertical pleats in the sides to simulate the look of a cupcake paper and is somewhat tapered toward the bottom. The “top half” tapers down and has a spiral design layered inside. In the finished cake, this spiraling allows for easy decorating. As you see in the photos here, the level of decorating is limited only by your imagination.

The advertised pan volumes seem variable. I have seen it listed as a 10 cup pan, but also as a 6½ cup pan on a couple of web sites. The reason being is that the 10 cup amount is total volume possible, while the 6-½ cup listing is the practical amount of batter that can be poured into the pan. The cake will rise as it bakes and if you filled the pan with 10 cups of batter, it would overflow during baking making a big mess in your oven.

The depth of the pan, 3 ¾ inches, will affect the baking time. Most cake pans are 2 inches deep and while this cupcake pan isn’t an outrageous depth, it is larger than normal and requires a “low and slow” approach. In this case, you bake the cake at 325F for 60 to 70 minutes. It is necessary to adhere to this approach or risk a cake that is over cooked on the outside and under cooked on the inside – giant lava cake anyone?

One method of preparation is to divide the batter in the two halves and cook the whole thing for the same length of time. Some have said, they put part of the batter in the “bottom half” first, bake for about 10 minutes and then pour the remaining batter in the “top half” and continue baking until done. The intent of this two phase baking is to even out the cooking process. The “top half” does narrow down to a point and could bake too fast. The results from both the split method and “normal” method were good, so try it both ways and see which works best for you.

Don’t believe the hype about the nonstick surface making for easy release. Experience has taught me that in pans like this one, with detailed interior designs, the cake tends to stick in the groves. To prevent this from happening, use butter and flour or an all-in-one spray like Bakers Joy Nonstick Cooking Spray.

After baking, allow the two halves to cool for about 15-20 minutes before removing from the pan and to cool completely before decorating. To decorate, place the bottom piece, small side down, on a cake plate or decorating wheel and spread with the icing of choice. Next, place the top half on the bottom piece and proceed to decorate as your imagination dictates.

The finished product was indeed attractive, surprisingly so. It was not as big as I had thought it would be, but nevertheless was a nice shape. The finished “cupcake” will be 7-1/4” wide by 7-1/2” tall.

As to the popular thought that this cake would be great for young kids, I don’t think so. Why? Regular cupcakes are truly finger friendly food. This cake tapers from the middle at both top and bottom and would not make for clean, even slices. This is why they invented cupcakes in the first place: to give each child a small manageable serving without the hassle of slicing the cake and serving small children something that requires a fork to eat. Like this large cupcake, regular cupcakes allow for diverse decorating possibilities where children can choose from different colored frosting and sprinkles.

This pan would be great for small groups of friends and family who don’t want a full size cake. It would also make a great centerpiece, surrounded by traditional cupcakes – regular or mini – size doesn’t matter. Surrounding the giant cupcake with concentric circles of smaller cupcakes would make for a cool visual presentation.

You can, of course, do whatever you want.

How does it taste? This will be determined by the type of cake recipe used, the icing recipe and how well the cake was baked.

One additional thought to keep in mind, due to its unusually long shape, this pan could be challenging to store in your cupboards.

I was skeptical of this pan at first, as I am with all these “limited use, whimsically shaped bakeware pans.” I was convinced it was just a gimmick that would fade quickly out of sight. In the end, I think it could provide years of good use for children’s birthdays and other functions.

——————————————————————————————————————