Nordic Ware Platinum Collection Train Pan

 (34 customer reviews)

I used this pan to make a cake for my grandson's birthday party. I did two practice runs on using the pan. A regular cake mix will work as well as the recipe that is printed on the underside of the label. I followed the instructions to fill the pan only 3/4 full but with a cake mix, I found this to be too much. Each section has a horizontal line as part of the design for each train car. Fill only to the top of this line so the cakes will be the right height. It is important to follow the instruction to hit the pan firmly on your countertop before placing the batter in the oven - this will eliminate any air bubbles trapped in the cake. When the cake sections are baked, wait 10-15 minutes then turn them out GENTLY onto a wire frame. DO NOT TAP THE BOTTOM OF THE SECTIONS before turning the cakes out since they will come out with some of the design missing.
However, this cake pan works beautifully. I found that a soft paint brush worked very well with hot soapy water when washing...Read more

I was skeptical at first- I didn't think the non-stick surface would really work as well as promised, but it really did work! I made sure to follow the exact directions, and the cakes popped right out- I tried the recipe that came with the pan and also a boxed gingerbread cake mix- both with equally great results. Our Twins' 2nd birthday cake was a big hit!

Giving 4 stars because the cupcakes are very cute WHEN they do come out. The snickerdoodle recipe that came with the pan was the only recipe that worked perfectly with the pan, but the cake was too dry and too sweet, so we cut the sugar by 1/3. And our solution to the dry cake was to serve it with light whipped cream and cold juicy blueberries on the side, which worked out very well. The fine details of the train cars did not come out consistently with other more moist recipes. We floured, used spray with flour, you name it, and got mixed results. Fortunately most pieces were salvageable with creative icing and decorating. We used organic juice gummy candy and piped small amounts of icing, and covered with strips of fruit roll-ups cut to size. It was perfect. Kids loved the cakes. We did have to make several batches to have enough "good" ones to serve a crowd of 21, but fortunately we ended up with several good train engines which were the most popular shapes amongst the...Read more