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Cupcake Surprise Pan

Cupcake Surprise Pan

Several months ago, I spotted a new pan that was being introduced for summer baking: a stuffed cornbread pan. This particular pan had a large spike in each of its muffin-sized square cavities onto which you could place anything that you wanted to stuff inside of your cornbread, from a piece of cheese to a jalapeno. The idea was good for cornbread because that is a type of baked good where you don’t really see too many mix-ins. Chicago Metallic has now expanded this idea into a Cupcake Surprise Pan. This nonstick cupcake pan has standard-sized cavities, each with a metal spike for holding mix-ins in place. The spike is also nonstick, and even sticky things should slide off easily when the pan is still warm from the oven.

As with the cornbread, this is an interesting idea because some fillings are quite heavy and usually sink to the bottom of cupcake batter during baking. You could skewer a caramel or a peanut butter cup and be sure it will still be at the center of your cake. You could also use a piece of fruit or a chocolate truffle (for a molten chocolate cupcake effect). Soft fillings, such as peanut butter and cream cheese can be chilled so they hold their shape before putting them in the pan. The pan does have its drawbacks, however, because the fluffy cream fillings that are usually associated with cupcakes still need to be piped into the cake after baking. That said, the pan does give you the freedom to be quite creative with whatever you put into your cupcakes – and you can always leave those spikes unskewered and bake a regular batch of muffins in the pan, too.

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8 Comments
  • Liz J in Central Illinois
    August 19, 2011

    If you wanted to pipe in a creamy filling, couldn’t you use the hole created by the skewer? Do you think that would work? Or would the hole be too small?

  • Pattypro
    August 20, 2011

    I’m generally too lazy to make cupcakes, but this pan could change that.

  • Stephanie
    August 20, 2011

    Soo interesting! I’d love to try this out and see how it works… I’m kind of skeptical that it would slide off easily – though I’d love it to work like its supposed to. Pretty smart!

  • Sara
    August 21, 2011

    wait that’s so cool!!!! i assume if you didn’t have the spikes though you could just put half batter/filling/half batter. right??

  • Kathryn
    August 23, 2011

    I love this pan! But, my real comment has to do with the gizzmo that you are using to fill the pan. I always struggle to get the same amount of batter into each hole. This gizzmo that you are using would totally solve that problem. It is probably one of the simplist things out there, but, what is it? I’d love to pick one up for myself! Thanks for your help!!

  • Sweettwist_Meg
    August 24, 2011

    Wow! I am going to buy this! Very Cool. Great idea!

  • Sloopyjo
    January 7, 2012

    I was given this pan as a Christmas present, and love it! I have already used it three times for cupcakes (kids’ parties). It’s on tomorrow’s menu for stuffed cornbread muffins.

    The spike didn’t hold the chocolate candy placed in the cupcakes in the center though. The did warm and slide to the bottom. But no one minded! Still yummy!

  • Anna
    August 11, 2012

    Do not try this with marshmallows. You will end up having a crater in your cupcakes. So far, I am not impressed.

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