I was thinking that a great favor idea for my grandmother’s 80th birthday party would be mini loaves wrapped with a thank you tag and pretty ribbons.  The pans I was thinking of using are the ones with 8 wells that measure 3.7” x 2.4”.  I have several concerns regarding this endeavor. 

First would be to find recipes that would be able to be baked in the mini loaf pans.  I was hoping to do pound cakes or something along those lines instead of a loaf shaped muffin.  Sarah Olsen has a really great recipe for brown sugar pound cake, but it’s meant to be baked in a large bundt pan. I now know, thanks to Rose, that you can’t just put batter in any pan size you like!

Second is that these would need to be frozen b/c of the number needed.  I’m worried that they might become gummy (namely the tops) once they were thawed and placed in the bags making a huge mess.  Is there a way around the loafs sticking to the bags?  I thought maybe the right recipe would make all the difference, or maybe if they were thawed completely to room temp before being packaged? I hope I’ve explained this well enough that someone will understand what I mean!

I would appreciate any and all suggestions that anyone could offer! I’d like to make this birthday extra special for my grandmother and I thought the mini loafs would be a hit with the older group, as well as a little unique!

Thanks!

I bake cakes all the time as mini loaves.  I don’t change the recipe at all, except that if I use a ‘regular’ cake recipe (one that wasn’t designed to be baked as a loaf), I let them sit on the counter (in the pans) for about 40-50 minutes before baking to expel some of the leavening so they dome (as cakes are designed to be flat).  I wrap them in plastic, freeze, and then wrap them in foil.  I haven’t had any problem with them sticking to the plastic wrap, but then I usually unwrap them directly from the fridge, as I eat them cold.  I think your idea of bringing them to room temp before bagging is a good one.  Another thought is to sprinkle them with demerra sugar or regular sugar before baking. It will give them a little crust that might help prevent sticking.  Powdered sugar on the room temp cakes might absorb some of what might cause sticking.  Also, cakes with ‘crumbly’ topping or small chopped nuts sprinkled on before baking would help keep them from sticking.  You can make different kinds and use different methods!

Rose’s pound cake is amazing, BTW.

Happy birthday to your gramma!!!

Rose’s double vanilla pound cake is in the Cake Bible, and she uses the same base to make mini loaves in RHC, with no leavening adjustments.  So you’d be fine to use that.  It’s generally harder to go larger than smaller with pan sizes.

Everything Anne said sounds good to me, too.

I suppose you could also bake in a 9 x 13” pan and then trim/cut the cakes to the desired size.  This is of course if they were to be frosted/coated.  I ascertain that you are probably wanting sealed edges so this probably wouldn’t work for your project.

Thanks everyone for your input! I tried the brown sugar pound cake again in the mini pan and it turned out great.  I’m on my way to check out the other recipes mentioned and look forward to trying them out.