Whether you’re a fan of Hershey’s chocolate bars or not, it’s design is undeniably a classic confectionery icon: a flat, rectangular bar divided up into bite-sized pieces that are easy to snap off. I don’t know that Hershey’s was the first chocolate maker to use this design, but it is the one that is certainly the most well known for it. Williams Sonoma is currently carrying a Chocolate Bar Brownie Pan that uses the iconic look of the chocolate candy bar to make brownies look even more chocolaty than they are to begin with.
The pan, which is made by NordicWare, is heavy duty cast aluminum and measures 13.5″ x 6.5″ x 1.5″. It will work for a recipe scaled to a standard 9×13-inch pan. This pan will work best for denser recipes, like brownies (as the name of the pan suggests), fudge or flourless chocolate cake. Other cakes, while they will still bake up just fine, will not be left with as distinct an impression of the candy bar design and details will be more difficult to make out, even though the nonstick finish of the pan should help the cake release easily.
cybele
January 30, 2009I got the pan for my birthday. It doesn’t release quite easily (but I’ve only used it once so far). I don’t think they should have put the little “chocolate” lettering on it – otherwise it’d be perfect.
We did a recipe for a 9×13 pan and felt it was a little too much (so we put the extra in a little pan). That was probably a good idea.
dawn
January 30, 2009I need to look for that…would love to try a layer of chocolate then the brownie layer.
Nicole
January 30, 2009Thanks for the review, Cybele!
Heaters
May 5, 2009Awesome review, will have to try this sometimes
Sara
May 18, 2010Hershey’s is currently suing William Sonoma for trademark infringement because of this pan and has attached a copy of this entry to support their argument! http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202458384694&rss=newswire