When you think of a two-tone cupcake, you probably picture a marble cupcake where two different colors or flavors of batter are swirled together. Wilton’s new Two-Tone Cupcake Inserts allow you to make a cupcake where just the center is a completely different flavor from the outside. The advantage to a two-tone cupcake like this one is that each flavor of cake will be stronger, since it isn’t “diluted” by swirling it into another batter. The finished cupcakes also have a very fun, unique look to them and definitely deliver a surprise to anyone who bites into one!
The insert is very similar to the insert for a checkerboard cake pan, where you can put different colors of batter into one pan to create checkerboard squares of color in the finished cake, but it is done on a much smaller scale here. You place the plastic insert into your muffin tray – you can get a whole set from Wilton or just use the muffin pans you have with the inserts alone – and fill the center and the outside separately with different colors/flavors of batter, then slide the insert out to use on another row of cupcakes. You don’t need to clean the insert between rows of cupcakes (each insert handles 3 cupcakes at a time) unless you want to change up the colors from row to row, in which case you can simply rinse it off. You remove the inserts completely before baking.
Conversation Hearts are an iconic Valentine’s Day sweet, but you can turn any baked good into a Valentine’s Day treat by giving it a heart shape, whether you’re baking cookies or cakes. Wilton’s Valentine’s Day Cookie Pan Press is a pan that allows you to bake twelve unique heart shaped cookie designs at a time, giving you easy and adorable treats to share with your loved ones. Unlike many other cookie pans, the selling point of this one is that each design is different. The designs are also complicated enough that you can either decorate them or not, and you’ll have good-looking cookies regardless. The pan is nonstick, so all of your cookies should pop out easily once the are baked.
Cookie pans like these are getting more and more popular every year as a low-maintenance alternative to using traditional cookie cutters. You don’t need to roll out your dough or worry about the cookies spreading too much and losing their shape. This also means that you can use any kind of cookie dough in a pan like this, not just the typical butter cookies that you find in cut-out cookies. They’re especially easy for kids to work with (and a help to parents who don’t always want to make a huge mess in the kitchen), too.
Nothing says “I Love You” like homemade baked goods – unless the pan literally prints the words right onto your cake. This Love Cake Pan from Wilton does just that. The pan is shaped in the form of the word “love” and features little hearts for the center of the “o” and the “e.” It does look like something that you might have doodled in your homeroom notebook in school, but since the cake pan is designed for Valentine’s day, the overall effect here is cute rather than corny.
The pan is nonstick and the design is straightforward, so your cakes should slide easily out of the pan with a very clear design. The pan holds about the same amount of batter as a standard loaf pan, although it is slightly shallower. This means that you’ll probably have to reduce the baking time for your favorite banana bread or pound cake recipe by a few minutes so that it doesn’t get overbaked. Like most Wilton cake pans, this one also comes with instructions for using a cake mix (you’ll only need 2/3 of a prepared, standard cake mix) so that you can make the cake as easily as possible and get down to decorating this cake for your loved ones.
Wilton definitely knows what they’re doing when it comes to shaped cake pans. They always have fun, seasonal pans that aren’t too expensive that allow you to make some really creative cakes. Out of all of the pans that they have put out this season, I think that this Coffin Cake Pan just might be my favorite. The nonstick pan bakes six coffin-shaped cakes. Each cake has a depression on the top and a slightly raised coffin rim that gives the coffin some extra dimension. They can be filled with fruit, frosted, or packed with skeleton-shaped candies or cookies. If you have a coffin-shaped cookie cutter, or want to spend a few minutes shaping a coffin cutout with a knife, you can even make a custom lid for each one out of a batch of cutout cookie dough. Unlike some shaped pans, these can really be dressed up or down. You can create something really spooky (or even very gourmet, using a chocolate cake base) for grownups, or something simple and fun for kids.
Since we’re getting closer to Halloween, I’ve noticed that this pan and other Halloween treat pans are going on sale at just about every store I visit. A sale price on a specialty pan always tempts me to buy it that much more… and this one will make a lot of fun Halloween treats.
Candy corn is one of my favorite Halloween treats, and it’s a fall staple for many whether you are a fan of them or not. Lately, I’ve been using candy corn as inspiration to make some yellow, orange and white baked goods for the holidays, such as cupcakes and cookies. This fun candy corn-inspired pan from Wilton lets you use the candies as a template for creating candy corn-shaped cakes. The Candy Corn Mini Cake Pan has six triangular cavities, each with three lines dividing the cake where the candy corn typically change from one color to the next. You can use any batter you like as the base for your cakes and, after baking, you can use the lines as guides when applying your icing or fondant to get the candy corn look. The pan is nonstick, so you don’t need to worry about the cakes getting stuck in the pan.
Of course, candy corn cakes are something you might not want to make year-round. Fortunately, this pan can actually be used for other occasions, too. For instance, you can turn the triangles into little Christmas tree cakes for Christmas. The triangular cakes also look like slices of a full sized cake, so you could even just decorate them with non-holiday frosting for birthdays and other occasions. Still, the pan is perfect for candy corn-inspired baking and a fun thing to have around for October and November baking.
