Flight testing a new cake pan...

sounds kind of strange. What would one mean by flight testing... we'll with the Boeing 787 taking it's first flight last December. I thought I'd 'bake' test the Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake recipe from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook "Baking From My Home To Yours" in a newly acquired cake pan from Sur La Table.



The sales lady at Sur La Table did tell me that the stainless steel pan is a mold pan and not meant for baking. My response was... it's stainless steel, just like my mini madeleine pan from France. As long as I grease it really well, I should not have a problem getting the cake out. Sure enough, the cake came out of the pan without a hitch. Now my dilemna, how and where can I split the cake and fill it? After pondering for a few minutes, to keep it simple, I decided to leave it as is and just soak the cake with some simple syrup and enclose it in a layer of chocolate ganache. Nothing fancy this will have to do for now, the other option was to make a pan of 'Jello' in it. And Jello is not an option for a birthday celebration.



Hopefully the little chocolate airplane cake will be a nice birthday surprise for Jason. Jason is currently flying airplanes for Delta and someday aspires to be a test pilot for The Boeing Co.