Thank you all for your lovely responses to my silver anniversary letter to Pete – we were very touched by your kind comments and good wishes. Thank you for letting us share a little of our story with you. x
As you might have figured out by now, we’re not big on gifts in our family. So our anniversary presents were two new fish tank pumps for Pete, and a set of baking pans for me. And to be honest, I’m more excited about these than I would have been about a pair of silver earrings, because I don’t actually have any small flat trays (or sheet pans, as they’re known in the US).
These ones by Nordic Ware are heavy, non-stick and beautifully finished. At $26.50 for the set of three, they were very reasonably priced, and as you can see, they’re kind of silver coloured…
I thought it might be fun to try baking a “sheet” cake, so I whipped up a batch of our tried and tested Tiger Cake recipe. The batters were dolloped Picasso-style into the lined small and large pans…
After 25 minutes in a preheated 160C fan-forced oven, this is how they came out…
The Tiger Cake recipe usually makes enough batter to fill an enormous bundt or two large loaf pans, so I was surprised that it only resulted in two flat slabs. Once I started cutting them up though, I was astonished how much there actually was – I sent three boxes home with my friend Joyce, and there was still a mountain of cake leftover.
There wasn’t room for lots of marbling, but it was a delicious experiment nonetheless…
I was really pleased with how the pans worked in the oven – they stayed dead flat and baked very evenly. A chocolate sheet cake next, I think!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
WOW! I loved this, especially how seen… Thank you dear Celia, you inspired me, love, nia
I’m so glad you liked it, Nia! xx
My Pete and I are not very romantic with gift buying either. I love your sheet pans and a piece of your lovely cake would hit the spot at moment with a lovely cup of tea.
Have a happy day.
:-) Mandy xo
I’ll send a slice over, Mandy! :) xx
Do you always use the forced-air (same as fan-assist?) oven for cakes and biccies?
Misky, yes, always use the fan for almost all my baking.
It looks really pretty and reminds me of when I was a child. I often had cakes like this when visiting friends’ houses.
Corina, that’s nice to know. Wide flat cakes like this are quite a new thing to me!
I love gifts like that… one year, many moons ago, I insisted that Phil got me a vacuum cleaner, and all my friends made fun of me… I don’t get it… to me it was the best gift ever, because I needed one
I felt the same way about the food processor Pete bought me a while back, Sally! :)
Wow Celia, what a great gift. I couldn’t think of anything better to receive than cake tins.
Glenda, these are VERY nice – heavy duty, with a finish so non-stick that the parchment paper wouldn’t stay in place! :)
That’s my idea of a good present too! Good to know Nordic ware pans worked so well, as I’ve been looking at post-Christmas sales and thinking about replacing some old baking pans.
Saucy, I’ve used their bundt tins for years now and they’ve been great, but this is the first time I’ve bought their flat pans. They haven’t let me down!
Those are the pans I use for baking my bread bears. I love them because the lip holds everything in it’s place and keeps the top bit of the bears bellies from getting too dark in relation to the rest of the body.
Your cakes look marvelous- and you had a mountain of cake?
That imagery is very strong in my mind as I picture it next to our western range of Rocky mountains. Mmm!
Heidi, it really WAS a mountain of cake, in relative terms. A pile went to Joyce, another pile to the neighbours, and we ate the rest! I love it when the one cake feeds multiple families! :)
Like many here, I’d rather have cake tins than earrings! After all, we only have two ears but there’s no maximum to how much cake we can eat ;)
Chica, we are but limited by the size of our kitchen storage cabinets! ;-)
My oven is so small in this Miele that I have that I can only use a small sheet pan in it. I miss my big ovens. I too would want those pans over earrings. :)
I got my new kitchen all those years ago because I finally couldn’t cope with my old 60cm wall oven any longer. It didn’t help that I had to ocky-strap the door closed every time. Bob the Smeg oven is 90cm free standing, and can cook a whole suckling pig or four large fruitcakes! :) I hope you get a big oven again one day M! xx
Nordic ware is excellent, Celia… such good quality. We used to sell it in the shop. Love your cake, but after a week of over indulgent eating with Peter’s mum visiting, I think cakes and biscuits will be on the back burner until P and I can get back to the gym! : )
The Nordic Ware really is lovely, isn’t it? I’ve got quite a few pieces now!
Fascinating to think how you house all your bakeware, once the boys leave home you can convert their drawers or wardrobes.
I have no room in my new home for any of my old collection and I am determined to hold on to them. As long as I can cook I will need them.
Darling, my bakeware is nothing compared to your cast iron collection! :D
Love the Nordic ware………yes I have an obsession;the shortbread tray I couldn’t live without.
You bake your family gifts every day!
Ooh, a shortbread tray! Does it have a design on it? I’ll have to go look, Elaine! :)
Yes beautiful designs. Do have a look
That’s also the kind of present my Peter and I like to have. I wouldn’t mind a nice pair of earrings but I also know that I am absent minded and can imagine the angst and anguish of losing one so I’m very happy with less precious items. Your sheet cake looks like a crowd pleaser from whatever angle you view it – I like the mental imagery of ‘sheet’ when it’s used in relation to cake. I can imagine curling up with a ‘blanket’ or ‘eiderdown’ cake:)
Jan, I’m quite fascinated with the idea of sheet cakes – the concept that is, as a lot of the recipes I’m coming across are made from packaged mixes.
These look magnificent! x
Thanks Jane! xx
Hehe we’ve definitely stretched the definition of gifts for anniversaries much more than you have. Silver suits! I got a pair of shoes for a paper anniversary because they came in a box! :P
This made Pete laugh out loud! :)
G’day! Your marble cake make me smile today Celia, true!
Reminded me so much of childhood which have very fond memories of and wish I could try your marble cake right now too!
Cheers! Joanne
Thanks Jo! It must have been nice to grow up with these cakes! :)
Sheet Cakes are on my list of things I must try this year. This looks like a great place to start.
I’m doing chocolate next week, Tania! I wanted to do it this week, but we’ve all eaten to fullness.. :)
Your cakes always look delicous, your boys are all very lucky!
Thanks Stefanie! :)
I understand why you’d prefer baking trays (as I call them) over earrings :)
Oh, I like earrings too! It’s just that given the choice.. ;-)
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same here celia..i’d prefer kitchen ware any day over bling..x
I figure bling necessitates going out, and we don’t do that often.. :)
I love sheet cakes.. there’s something so vintage about them, they remind me of my childhood. Mom’s weren’t technically a sheet cake because she baked them in a 9×13.. but they weren’t layered cakes, etc (except on birthdays).. just lovely rectangles of fluffy cake. I love that this marbled one doesn’t even need icing to be yummy!!xx
Barb, the marble cake recipe is brilliant – it doesn’t even need swirling to make interesting shapes! I love thinking of these as an old fashioned cake!
I completely relate to your simple pleasures and not needing to commemorate events with big gifts! Practical always works best for me, too! I look forward to baking this recipe and I think my granddaughters would get a charge out of calling it Tiger Cake! :-)
Thank you! It works a bit better in a bundt pan or a loaf tin – then you really get the swirls happening!
Well now there’s another thing on my must have list. I couldn’t ever tell Will where I get all my ideas for things I ‘need’ for the kitchen or he may not let me talk to you anymore!
I would love a slice of this right now with my cup of tea :-)
You can bet I’m not saying anything to your husband, Claire! :D
I love your new non-stick cookie & baking pans,…they look huge & pretty too. I love, love your recipe a lot too,…very Yum Yum Yummm. 😃
Thanks Sophie! xx
Those look like great pans Celia – I love the finish on them. Also ogling your cake & really like how you just dusted it with confectioners sugar – very nice. At some point you really are wise to exchange practical gifts.
Diane, I think we’ve always exchanged practical gifts, from when we were 18. One day, remind me to tell the story about the zebra towels.. ;-)
Zebra towels Celia? That sounds interesting – tell…
It’s our silver anniversary next year too Celia and I’ve promised BigJ a watch- the only thing is I can’t think of anything special I would like him to buy me either :) One year he bought me a worm farm that I had been really wanting and all his friends made fun of him, I didn’t though, he knows what will make me happy.
Your cake looks so pretty, and that quality Nordicware should last for at least another 25yrs! Xox
I too love practical and useful (needed) gifts. Love my sheet pans, you are going to find many uses for yours.
I’d take a good set of sheet pans over diamonds any day. Happy thoughts to you my friend! Hugs, Maz. <3