Wilton "#1" Baking Pan: A Must Have Pan for Baking Fanatics

There aren't many baking pans that I would consider a necessity but this is one of them. The "#1" pan can be used for so many different things from cakes to brownies and if you are daring enough, a very interesting gelatin mold. The first time I used this for gelatin I loaded it up with fruit and no one even noticed that it was the shape of a number. You live, you learn, you lay off the fruit. If you can mix up a box of cake batter, set a timer and spread on some icing you can make this cake for any event or celebration and save a ton of money over buying a store bought one. The biggest perk is being able to use the colors and decorations you want and knowing exactly what's in it.

Some of the obvious uses are for the first place team in a sporting event, first birthdays and of course Mother's Day but you can also use it for someone's eleventh birthday, showing someone that they are number one in your life or add it to a larger cake for a tiered look. You can also shave off the serifs and make it into a brick shape if you need something like that. Average baking time is about twenty to twenty five minutes with a cool time of at least fifteen. Decorating is easy because of the simple shape of it and you can customize it any way that you like.

One thing I tried and has success with was making a checkerboard design when one of the boys came in fist place in a local chess competition. I made one dark chocolate pan and a white one. After allowing them to cool I used fishing line to cut the cakes into blocks then rebuilt them. Of course I ended up with a few pieces that didn't fit right but was able to use the extra pieces to make one complete cake with a very cool checkerboard design. I did have to use a lot of icing to get the pieces to stick but it was more than worth it when it was cut.