2020-04-01_Bake_from_Scratch

(coco) #1

17 bake from scratch


BAKER SPOTLIGHT:


THE CAKE PAN QUEEN


WE SAT DOWN WITH BRENDA SLATE, A BAKE FROM SCRATCH SUPERFAN AND

ALUMNA OF SEVERAL BAKING RETREATS, TO GET THE INSIDE SCOOP ON

HER MUSEUM-WORTHY CAKE PAN COLLECTION.

For Brenda Slate, it all started with family.
From birthday parties to holiday meals,
Brenda’s love of baking homemade cakes
sparked a lifelong drive to collect cake pans
of all shapes and sizes. With an assortment
that’s well into the triple digits and ranges
from charming vintage vessels to Nordic
Ware’s latest creations, Brenda’s got a pan
for every occasion. We chatted with this
Arlington, Texas, local about her baking
treasure trove.

We’re fascinated by your extensive cake pan
collection. Just how many pans do you have?
Brenda Slate: I have just over 200 pans. It could
be more! The ones I use the most are stored on
a special shelf I had built in our kitchen, but the
rest are organized in plastic bins and stacked
in the laundry room. They’re all organized by
theme, so no matter what time of year it is, I can
easily fi nd which ones I’m looking for. But that
also makes it hard to tell how many there are.

Why cake pans?
Brenda: When I was a little girl, my
mother bought me one of those Suzy
Homemaker sets that comes with the
light bulb oven and little cake pans
for children to learn how to bake. I
loved baking cakes from the fi rst time
I used it. After that, I can’t remember a
Saturday when my mother, sister, and
I weren’t browsing through kitchen
stores for new bakeware. When I got
married, baking cakes for our family
occasions became my way of showing
love. With every occasion that came up, I’d get a
new cake pan to mark it.

What kind of pans are in your collection?
Brenda: All kinds! I have your basic cake pans
like a 9-inch round pan and Nordic Ware’s classic
Anniversary Bundt Pan. I still have the vintage
cake pans I bought as a little girl, which are teddy
bear- or Disney character-shaped. Then I started
collecting pans based on what was going on in my
life. When my daughter had her fi rst birthday, I
bought a Winnie the Pooh pan. For my son’s fi rst,
it was a pan shaped like a train with monkeys on
it. I also collect vintage copper and cast-iron
cake pans.

Do you have any favorites?
Brenda: The ones I use the most are Nordic
Ware’s novelty pans, like the mini rose-shaped
pans and their holiday-themed pans. Nordic
Ware’s Bundt pans are the pans I use when
I’m craving a piece of cake outside of a family
gathering. I’m not a huge fan of frosting if it’s just
me eating it, so the Anniversary Bundt Pan or the
Brilliance Bundt Pan allow me to bake beautiful
cakes without having to worry about them
looking unfi nished without frosting.

Where do you go when you’re on the search for
new pans?
Brenda: Antiques stores and fl ea markets are
perfect for fi nding vintage pans. I also travel a
good bit, and in the last year, I’ve been on several
of the Bake from Scratch baking retreats. There’s
always an opportunity to explore stores that are
unique to the location where we’re staying, like
pan-hunting in E. Dehillerin in Paris. Other than
that, I still wander through kitchen stores around
town just like I did with my mother and sister
when I was little.

Do you plan to keep expanding your
collection?
Brenda: I’m always looking for a new addition.
Any time there’s a birthday, holiday, or just
when the kids come home, I bake a cake. I end up
baking about 45 cakes a year, and while I love the
pans I have now, when you bake that much, it’s
fun to introduce a new pan into the mix and play
with a new shape. I’ll keep fi lling up the shelves
in the laundry room, and when I can’t anymore,
I’ll just think of somewhere else to keep my
growing collection. •
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