Marvel Cakelet Pan

Whether you’re reading about them in comic books or watching them in summer blockbusters, there is something about the speed, strength and other special abilities of superheroes that makes them captivating to people of all ages. Granted, you might not want to plaster your bedroom with Spiderman wall paper – but you might very well have done that as a kid and you almost certainly know at least one kid who would love to do that now. A friend (with a definite affinity for comics) turned me on to this new Marvel Cakelet Pan from Williams-Sonoma. The pan is made by NordicWare of heavy duty cast aluminum and has a nonstick finish, so it should release the cakes very easily and with clearly defined details that will make decorating your superheroes easy. The pan makes six cakelets, each a bit larger than a standard muffin, in the shapes of Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine and The Incredible Hulk. Hopefully, all of these heroes will be equally popular with your superhero fans and there won’t be any battles in your kitchen over who gets which cakelet.

As for decorating, the best way to go about it is to take a black or dark icing and pipe outlines of the superheroes’ features on the cakes first, when you can see the details of the cake most clearly. Allow these outlines to set, then use multi-colored icing to fill in the details of their faces and get a more vibrant look before serving. You’ll have to play around with the icing tints to get the colors just right – or you could let your superhero fans pick out their own colors for their heroes’ costumes.