2020-04-01_Bake_from_Scratch

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. •