Nordic Ware Backyard Bugs, 5 Cup Capacity, Toffee

Since purchasing my first Nordic Ware baking pan in 2013 from William Sonoma, I have started to collect these whimsical cake baking pans. These pans NEVER fail to release perfect design mini cakes. My 18 year old daughter both bake with them. We have used the Wilson cake release liquid and Pillsbury pan aerosol spray with fantastic results in all Nordic Ware pans. Get in all grooves but don't over apply. I use a paper towel to get in all grooves and keep other areas from over greasing. Nordic aware website has a lot of great info about these pans, (and examples of all the pans they make). These are heavy pans that cook evenly. Easy cleanup; when cooled down I wash with a microfiber dish cloth adding a little Dawn dish soap, rinse and dry. Easy and fun to decorate. I have used box cakes, scratch cake, muffin recipes and pumpkin bread which all yield perfect result. We have used two different designs to bake at the same time; depending on the yield of recipe. After baking and cooling easy to trim "bottom" with serrated knife. I highly recommend!! These are perfect for all levels of baking ability. Terrific to make with children. Buy one pan and you won't be able to stop getting more of them!!

I got this cake mold to make a cake for my nephew, who loves trains more than life itself. I was very pleased with how heavy and durable the pan is. It's sort of easy to use, but I had to have a practice run before making a cake that looked decent. My advice: (1) don't use flour to dust the pan like the instructions suggest. It discolors the cake if the "dusting" is too lumpy. I just sprayed the pan the second time and it worked wonderfully. (2) tap the pan a lot, and hard, to get all the air bubbles out. I tapped it for just a few times the first time I made the cake and didn't get rid of a lot of the air bubbles. (3) use a less expensive mix if you don't plan on actually eating the cake. We used it mostly for display. (4) don't decorate it in a humid environment e.g. in a kitchen with things on the stove - the icing may melt and the candies may slide off later. Both times I made the cake I had to cut the "muffin top" part off - I'm not sure if that's normal or depends on what kind of batter you use. I used a gingerbread cake batter the first time, and a red velvet cupcake mix the second time. I read that the best type of cake to use is pound cake because it's dense, but I didn't want to wait for it to bake for 1.5 hours. I used this mold mostly for display b/c after we decorated it and it was out for a couple of days, I didn't think it would be good to eat. It's a really great quality product though and I would imagine would be really fun for kids to eat! My nephew liked to pull the candies off of it but we didn't let him eat the cake, poor kid. But he liked it so much he said "choo choo cake" before falling asleep that night. We let him decorate part of it with icing and he loved that part too. I don't think the pan is super easy to clean because of all the grooves and detail, but it's fine if you're only using it every so often.

Friends appears commenting on Mon pound cakes I bake in this mold.

I don't even like cooking, but are you *** kidding me? Chocolate Chip DINOSAURS??? I bought a second one! Now I'm learning to bake. Understand, I am 50 years old and have hated cooking all my adult life, but Nordic Ware just made it fun. Now I'm suddenly buying more sugar and flour than I normally consume in a full year. Speaking as a novice I can still say this cake pan is thicker, heavier and sturdier than most, just like my mom's Bundt pan from decades ago, and I expect it to last a long time, IF properly cared for! I did accidentally scrape one with a fork and it was very unforgiving; the scar remains a permanent reminder. I like that there's no coating, though, so I'm not worried about bits of nonstick material flaking off. I do find the pan difficult to flip. There's not much to hang onto. But I found ways to make it work and I'm sure you can, too. I know it's intended for cakes but I couldn't resist trying cookies and it worked out quite well, even if cookie dough requires more work. The photos speak for themselves. I am extremely impressed with the detail. How they got the plates on the Stegosaurus, the horns on the Triceratops, even the teeth on the Tyrannosaurus, all to slide out in such detail, is culinary sorcery to a noob like me. I think Nordic Ware knocked it out of the park with this one. Everybody in my circle is getting dinosaur cookies and cakes this holiday season. Only I do hope I get my recipes down soon because my belly is not accustomed to all this "tasting." Fyi the Stegosaurus tastes the best in my opinion; with the Diplodocus a close second. Something about the texture of those plates adorning Stegosaurus's back makes those Mesozoic flavors really pop. Happy baking!

First, I bought this used because I know it's a niche purchase. I thought it would be fun to use with my nephews for a project. Whatever the previous owner did with this wrecked the non-stick coating on the pan. Unfortunately, I won't be using it to bake cakes. I'm not bothered by this because instead of baking with it we will use it to make bath bombs and still have some fun! The pan is heavy duty, the design is adorable, cleaning is always a chore with these but since I won't be using it for food products I won't be afraid of not doing a perfect job on cleanup. For the discount I got buying this used, I feel like it is worth the money to use it on bath bomb projects and I know my nephews will have a great time making them.

Love it , customer pleased

Great! Heavy, sturdy pan feels like it will last a long time--if you don't scratch the finish. I used this for my son's 3rd birthday, and it turned out fantastic! I used a moist box cake mix with no problems, first coated the pan by brushing shortening into all of the details and dusting with flour. My husband and I took turns tapping the pan against the floor to release the bubbles until no more appeared. I was worried about getting ALL of the details so I overfilled and cut off the rounded tops (as another reviewer said, one box cake mix makes about 12 train cars. so there will be leftover batter after filling). I had no problems removing them once it was fully cooled. Totally satisfied, although it took some time and effort to thoroughly coat the pan with shortening, and then later clean it in all the crevasses (I used an old toothbrush). For presentation, I ended up putting two single-layer 9x13 sheet cakes side by side. My kiddo loves switch tracks, so I incorporated a few lines of track with a switch to add interest and give space for all 9 cars. Not sure how soon I'll use it again because of how long it took to brush the shortening on (and later get it thoroughly clean), but it was total worth the effort for my kiddo's train party! There should be more open-top gondola cars, because those (filled with candy) were the cars the kiddos were arguing over. 😂

The cake came out very nice. Did not have to carve and waste a lot of cake. Some of the small details were hard to capture but it worked out great.

My girlfriend's cousin (2 years old) was speechless when he saw the train! The recipe included is really good. Great cake pan!

Love it

Nordic Ware - absolut tolle Backformen. Kann ich nur jedem empfehlen. Und Kinder lieben die Motive

No lo pienses, cómpralo para lo que sea que lo necesites, no se oxida, es resistente, es pesado y está nivelado, es material de calidad 100%, te la recomiendo en todo sentido.

Nordic ware è eccezionale. Ho tantissimi stampi e non sono mai stata delusa anzi.... È sempre uno spettacolo rovesciare lo stampo e ammirare le creazioni. Soddisfatta