I have that pan, and it didn't come with recipes. I thought I was going to make chocolates in it, but that didn't work out either. It's just too detailed.

Yeah, good question! I have that pan as well and want to know too.

Oh boy, I know the words to this song. I had this very same pan from WS and it gave me nothing but grief. Then I gave it away. I tried all variants of batters (lighter, denser, mid-range) and nothing worked. I think I even bought WS's pound cake mix thinking that might work. Nope. I broke down and bought "professional bakers spray", which I was told was a miracle in a can. Nada.

Additionally, and this may just be me, but the other problem with these tiny cakes is that when you put any sort of frosting, glaze or ganache on them, the detail gets obliterated. I think the best bet with these, assuming you can get them out, is to tint the batter. But that didn't appeal to me.

I hate to be the clown that killed the cake, but thought I'd relay my experience. I certainly am
only an amateur baker, so see what the real cooks here come up with!

honestly, i'd use them as jello molds. :D

Jello shots!

I have one similar to this, it has 4 different shaped flowers that are about 1 to 1.5 inches across. all I use is some non-stick cooking spray and whatever cake mix i have in my house. I've never had a problem with sticking, and the detail is usually pretty good. Maybe i've just been lucky! :)

There are some fancypants jello creations here that I've been ogling: http://themoderngelatina.wordpress.com/

The blueberries and cream in particular looks like it would make a nice individual serving size dessert.

Have you tried using Baker's Joy? Even the most stubborn cakes slide out with that...although I've never tried it on that kind of pan.

The Williams-Sonoma website (www.williams-sonoma.com) has some mini bundt cake recipes that might work. They don't have that pan available online, but when I typed "mini bundt pan" in the search field, the recipes showed up on the right side of the page under "Related Recipes".

You might want to try using shortening and a paper towel (or maybe a q-tip since these are small) to grease the pan and then flour them. You can then ensure that the shortening is getting into every little nook and cranny. It's time consuming, so you might want to just do one or two and see if it works.

When you remove the cakes, make sure they cool for a bit (10 minutes or so) before removing them. You might need to use a small paring knife to carefully and gently loosen the edges just to get them started. If you flip the entire pan over onto a cooling rack or tray and then gently tap the pan, they'll hopefully pop out.

I think for something like this, you have to use a really, really thin glaze-- anything else is going to be too thick and you won't see the detail. You could also just use a flavored simple syrup and then dust the tops with powdered sugar to highlight the detail.

If all else fails, give Williams-Sonoma a call. They might be willing to refund your money, or they might have other suggestions for you.

I've used Baker's Joy in this pan. The molds are so small that even a film of Baker's Joy obscures many details.

Jello bites sound good. I'd try that. Only thing is it's a heavy sturdy pan and you can't twist or bend it to help de-pan. Maybe a warm water dip and hopefully not too much detail melts off.

Maybe try using it as an ice cream mold to give homemade ice cream a unique presentation? If you removed the ice cream from the churn when it was still semi-soft, you could spoon it into the mini-bundt pan. Then you could place the pan in the freezer to finish the freezing. To release the cakes, I think you could dip the whole thing into a cake pan with warm water.

Score 1 for the vegans perhaps? I've never had any problem getting vegan cupcake or bundt recipes out of this pan with anything more than a little canola spray. You do lose some detail, especially with recipes that don't have a super delicate crumb, but a powdered sugar dusting helps highlight the nooks and crannies.

Cream filled chocolate mini-bundts: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3431/3256571313_eda8aca5b2.jpg

I was just watching a Giada rerun last night, and she made individual bundt cakes. After taking the pan out of the oven and letting it cool for a bit, she placed a sheet of parchment over the top of the bundt pan and then placed a baking sheet upside down over the parchment. Then, she flipped the pans so that the baking sheet was on the bottom. She let the bundt cakes cool for another hour before lifting the bundt pan free, releasing the cakes to the parchment-lined baking sheet. You might try that and see if you have more success!

I would second maglover's comment. Wait awhile the remove the pan. As the cakes cool, they will "sweat" and fall out more easily. This is the case with most types of cakes. Usually, waiting 15 minutes is long enough, but I'll admit I've not made bundt cakes for a long time.

I read a food blog by Sunita where she makes mini bundt cakes: for example, eggless lemon cakes. Maybe that would work?

I use my own cake release with a pastry brush (http://www.evanhaslanded.com/?p=3074). I have never tried to use it with a detailed pan such as this but I have never had a cake/bread stick to the pan (including shaped pans such as princess that has a few more details than regular rectangular ones). I would be curious to know if a pastry brush would work better with all the creases.
Cute pan - disappointing that it doesn't work well!

Hmm, I think some people are stuck on the whole de-panning part.

For me, I don't have so much trouble getting them out. Rather my biggest problem is that the cakes never retain the detailing, which is what I bought this stupid pan for! They de-pan with very soft blurred edges, much like the cakes in mel_v's link...which BTW, no offense, they do look delicious.

I don't have these problems with even just slightly larger molds but since each well in this particular pan only holds 2 TBS it seems to be a challenge to get the pretty cakes from it that the pan seems to promise.

So, any recipe suggestions for cakes that would render a nice crisp detail with 2 TBS of batter would definitely be appreciated!

I think you're asking for the impossible, SL. Even in the smoothest pound cake crust, air bubbles a hair's width wide will look like gaping holes along an edge that's less than 1" wide. I think part of the problem is that the pan is deceptive in its detailing. Because the cups are so small, the grooves are much shallower proportionally than my other (not as) small bundt pan since they cake would be too fragile.

I wonder if also because they take so little time to bake, they don't form much of a crust as a larger pound cake or bundt would.

I used Ina Garten's lemon pound cake recipe, and it turned out pretty well. Some of the detail was lost to a couple small bubbles, but the result was still nice.

I have this same pan. It did come with a recipe for mini cakes on the packaging, but no doubt that's long gone by now! There is a similar pan and a similar recipe posted here: http://cakeonthebrain.blogspot.com/2008/03/march-2008-spring-recipe-missionto-make.html

Hope that helps!

Popsicles maybe?

Try using the Pam with Flour (or Pam for Baking- something like that)- I overdosed my pan with it and the cakes came out significantly better than my first try.

Caneles! http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2005/10/caneles.php

I'm really not sure this will help -- mel_v's comment is, I suspect, right -- but do you tap out the bubbles before you put the pan in the oven? I am a total fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, winging-it sort of baker and rarely do this, but it does work for most cakes. If it's air bubbles that are causing the blurred-edges problems, ridding the cakes of the bubbles beforehand may help.

If you're not familiar with the technique, all you do is fill the cake tin, then gently but firmly lift and drop the tin on the countertop a few times. This basically loosens any air that gets trapped in the batter during the filling process and encourages it to the surface.

I still think this probably isn't the solution for you, but maybe it will help others?

I have this same pan-it's wonderful! I love to make the boxed pumpkin bread in them and drizzle them with chocolate ganache after they've cooled. DELICIOUS!@

I've had mini tiramisus that were molded in what must be this exact pan. Not sure how they got them out, but the details were definitely highlighted with a dusting of cocoa powder.