Go A Little Batty This Halloween With Wilton’s Single Series Bat Mini Pan
Written: Jul 23 '03 (Updated Aug 03 '03)
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Pros: Extremely cute mold, easy to use, inexpensive, durable.
Cons: Wilton axed most of the Single Series pans, this one included.
The Bottom Line: One of my all time favorite mini baking pans!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Wilton Singles - Bat Mini Pan |
One of my favorite things to do for Halloween is to create unique cakes, cookies and desserts. When I came across the Wilton Singles series of baking pans I freaked out – mini bats, tiny ghosts, jack-o-lanterns and of course the cute cat. I was in Halloween heaven and tossed one of each of the pans in my cart. I wasn’t sure how the actual cakes would turn out but I knew that I had to at leave give them a try. If the cakes turned out looking bad or didn’t have any detail to them I knew that I could use them for decorations or line the pans with cling wrap and use them for Jell-O molds. Lucky for me, the pans were great for baking as well as decorating and yielded nice looking cakes and the pans could be hung up on the wall when I was done – thanks to the small hole at the top. When I started to look for these locally and at the Wilton Online Store I found that Wilton, in their less than infinite wisdom, decided to kill off the seasonal Singles pans and stick with the more traditional baking pans. Why do companies kill off great products? I emailed Wilton a few days ago and so far haven’t received a response back from them.
Wilton Single Bat Mini Pan 2105-1122
This small but extremely adorable baking pan will allow you to create mini cakes that can be decorated in a number of ways. From elaborate icing and detail to the basic frosting and two large chocolate ships for eyes – however you choose to finish this off one thing is for sure, people will go batty when they see it. The pan is only five inches wide and about an inch and a quarter deep so the cakes are small – the perfect size for single servings, school functions, bake sales and making a festive dessert display. Since I have a true love for all things Halloween, this mold sees a lot of use and thankfully it’s stood up extremely well. Since Wilton no longer sells this at their site I’ve been trying to hit the different local stores that carry “odd” pans and baking molds to see if they have any in their back stock. The friendliest clerk in the world [Carmella at Michael’s] told me that she remembered seeing them last year but wasn’t sure if there were any left. I guess I’ll just have to wait until the end of August when they start putting out the Halloween items. These are usually stocked in the cake decorating aisles but they have been spotted in the seasonal sections near the candies and cookie cutters.
Instructions
Since this came with no instructions, here’s the way I do it. You can use a cake release to coat the inside or do it the traditional way and grease the inside of the mold then lightly flour it. Make sure you tap out all the excess flour then fill it about half way with the cake batter of your choice. Give the mold a few light taps on the counter to bring up any air bubbles then bake according to the directions on the box. If you are only baking one mold, check the progress about ten minutes into the bake time. The best way to gauge if it is cooked is to slide in a clean toothpick into the center and pull it out, if it comes out clean [no batter on it] then you know your mini cake is done. If you are baking multiple pans / molds, be sure to check the center ones first. I suggest placing them on a cookie sheet with raised edges, this makes it easier to get them in and out of the oven and will eliminate the possibility of one of them sliding off the edge.
Decorating
After you’ve baked the cake and made sure that is thoroughly cooked, your next task at hand is to decorate it. The finished cake should be about an inch thick but it is it bubbled or rounded on the top it’s easy to slide off the excess cake so you will have a flat bottom. Since the cake is small you can use a knife to slice off the extra cake or use a cake leveler. The cake will have a good bit of detail to it but there is a chance that the face of the bat will not be as prominent as depicted on the mold. You can use a standard frosting to cover the cake then detail it with licorice, chocolate chips and sprinkles or go all out and use a royal frosting to give it a lot of accents. If you are baking a lot of these you might want to complete the baking process then do an assembly line type of decorating. This will save you a lot of time and reduce the amount of wasted icing. These mini pans are also great to place on top of large cakes, a few in the corners with some small Halloween candies around the edges makes for a tasty treat that can be made in under an hour and a half.
The Singles Halloween Series
There were four Singles pans released, these included the Jack-O-Lantern [2105-1120], Ghost [2105-1121], Bat [2105-1122] and Cat [2105-1123]. They had a retail price of about $1.99 and were great for people who didn’t want to have to bake one large cake or simply wanted a little variety when baking for Halloween. Sadly, Wilton has discontinued many of the pans in the Singles series but they can still be found at baking specialty stores like Michael’s or from online stores that deal with candy making supplies, baking molds and cooking items.
The Bottom Line
Halloween in this house is more than just trick-or-treating and dressing up in costumes. Thanks to these cleaver and cute mini pans I can make individual snack sized cakes for everyone that stops by as well as the neighbors that also go “all out” for the holiday. The pans hold up well providing that they are washed and completely dried after use. The small hole on the top of the pan allows you to use them as a decoration as well. I wish I could track down a bunch of these and stock up on them because there are so many cool and creative things that can be done with them. Since they are a small size, these are also great to use for making small 3-D cakes – perfect for small centerpieces for a Halloween feast!
As always, thanks for the read!
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $1.99
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