I have a 7” x 4” cake pan, which is a nice proportion but I don’t know what I can bake in it. I never see recipes that call for such a size, and I presume that if I put any old cake batter in such an unusual size, it might fall or require a baking time of which I’m not sure. Thoughts? Thanks, Tim

TIM:
  Good afternoon to you. Tim, I doubt if there are any uses for that size pan in sweet type baking,(Cakes) but I think you can try baking a yeasted lean bread recipe in it. Just coat the insides with a cake release spray & fill the pan about 3/4th full & bake the bread 400/425 degrees.. Once baked remove from the oven & bang the pan on the corners of your counter top once or twice & with a flip of the wrist turn out the boule. If you require further info like recipes, ete post bake we can do that too.

  Good luck to you & have a nice day.

  ~FRESHKID.

So nice to see you on here, Freshkid!  I was only thinking of you earlier today and wondering how you were getting on!  I’m pleased to see you are feeling well enough to peruse the forum and offer your usual good advice.
As for Tim’s query, I was also thinking that a loaf cake would be the best use of his tin, perhaps a fruit loaf?  I know Americans don’t usually like fruit cakes as we do in the UK, but they are very nice for afternoon tea or when visitors call, and they keep well too! 

JEANNETTE:
  Good evening to you my dear friend. Thank you for asking & thinking about me. I am getting along now. I have gained about 14 1/2 pounds now. I still use a cane to steady myself. However, I still get very tired as soon as I start doing some of my domestic duties around my house… I then must rest & nap a little, so I am always behind.

  Jeannette, your not going to believe this, I was thinking about this odd shap pan all eve. I said to myself could this pan come from the UK nations somewhere. The reason I thought this way is because I do not think a viable cake can be baked in this pan…but a FRUIT CAKE can be baked because the weight of the fruit outweighs the batter portion. Sooo, I thought perhaps maybe someone living in the UK could submit a good fruit cake recipe for Tim then he can have 2, uses for that strange sized pan. Very good thinking on your part Jeannette.

  Enjoy the rest of your day what is left of it Jeannette.

  ~CASPAR.

A pan this size, combined with cupcakes on the side, or another smallish cake to use up the batter, might make a cute mini-sized cake for some occasion, or as a centrepiece topper on a huge sheet cake. It may also come in handy for a cake sculpture if you ever do one… I am in the process of building a 9 layer 20” high Dalek right now - and believe me I was baking cakes in every conceiveable pan and pot to get the sizes I need! You might have to line the sides with long strips of foil to get a useable depth in that pan - but it works fine. A cake baker can never have too many pans eh?

Is your pan about 2 1/2 inches tall, Tim? I’m guessing that it’s a standard 4-cup loaf pan. If so, it’s absolutely ideal for the breads and cakes Cass and Jeannette have recommended. And a perfect bread pan for loaves of any description from about 19 to 24 oz. dough by weight.

I would also try any of several recipes that Rose has in her books for a loaf pan. However, make two-thirds of the recipe since her loaf pans are usually 9x5”. Lots of options including pound cake in many varieties and delicious pumpkin walnut bread.

Any of the comfort-food, quickbread loaves that lots of us grew up with are also perfect in a loaf pan. I’m thinking especially of lemon loaf from my family, but also date bread, orange nut loaf, banana bread, cranberry, apricot, etc. Spice breads of all types!! Google pain d’epices. This incredible cake (bread?) dates back to the Crusades when spices were brought back to Europe from the Orient.

I happened to see that you were visiting the forum of late, Cass. So happy that you’re going from strength to strength. I’m sure it’s frustrating at times that you have to take it a bit slower for now, but “easy does it” seems to be a good rule for healing.

Carolita, I read this as 7’’ round, 4’’ tall, but from your post, I see you read it as a loaf pan, 7’’ long and 4’’ wide, so I guess there is some ambiguity in the original post.

You could be right, Matthew. Tim, would you enlighten us, when you return? Are we talking a round 7” pan x 4” high or the rectangular 7x4” loaf pan that’s usually about 2.5” tall?

In my opinion, the suggestions made would work in either case. Only having done it with fruitcake, that’s just an educated guess. If anyone were to try one of Rose’s loaf-designed recipes in a 7” round x 4” high pan, though, you’d have to use about 1.25x the ingredients rather than the two-thirds suggested for the rectangular pan.

It’s a 7” x 4” round—7” round and 4” high. Thanks so much for all your suggestions! I tend not to bake fruit cakes—usually I bake butter, sponge and pound cakes. I take it that the size just isn’t right for those types?

I’ve never seen a recipe that uses a 4” high round layer pan.  With such a deep shape, many cakes would be too overdone around the outer portions by the time the middle was done.  Also, if a recipe has enough structure to support a deep layer, then it may be more tough/less tender than is ideal for eating. 

You could try a brioche of some sort, perhaps a baba au rum?

You could also try a heating core that would transform it into a tube pan- then many recipes would probably work.

Please report back if you do try anything!