It is time for my new (second annual) Halloween tradition: baking with my Nordic Ware skull pans. I'm breaking them out again this year because after testing them last year, I know how to create adorable, spooky cakes that release easily and show nice definition in the faces.
I'm a deputy editor at the Good Housekeeping Institute and also a trained cook in the Kitchen & Cooking Lab—plus a lover of Halloween. It was a perfect fit for me to test these pans.
I was tempted to branch out because Nordic Ware also makes tombstone cakelet pans, skeleton cakelet pans, spooky cookie stamps, and a big Haunted Mansion Bundt pan. But the skulls are so fun. They come in three sizes:
- Bitelet (20 small skulls)
- Cakelet (6 medium skulls)
- Just...skull (a full skull with one face plus the back of the head for joining together)
I will make cakes again this year. But I can also make ice for punch. I can follow my coworker's great idea and make skull cornbread for chili. And clearly I have to try the viral pizza skulls trend.
Here are five things I learned working with the skull pans.
1. Use darker batters for best results
I used boxed cake mix in my testing, and the white cake (the appropriate color for a skeleton) was too light for the facial features to read. Yellow cake was better than white, but the devil's food cake mix (appropriate in its own way) was the winner: You could actually see the skull's features. This year, I'm trying spice cake for the color and the autumnal flavor.
2. Experiment with greasing
The pan's instructions recommended greasing with butter or shortening, then dusting with flour or cocoa powder to ensure release. I used shortening and flour, and the cakes released easily. But I added some extra batter to use it up without re-greasing and flouring, and the yellow cake mix turned out darker with sharper definition on the face, so I'll keep playing around with that this year.
The directions also said to avoid cooking spray, which is just good practice: All the experts in the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen & Cooking Lab note that nonstick spray can get sticky and even start smoking when it burns onto nonstick cookware. Baking spray, which usually contains flour, is OK.
3. Use a baking sheet under the pans
The small and medium skull pans were stable enough on their own when slid over the oven's baking racks, but they were easier to move on a baking sheet. The large skull pan, on the other hand, would not sit evenly without a baking pan.
4. Don't overfill the pan molds
Nordic Ware’s directions say to fill each skull cup no more than three-quarters full, and I found that to be good advice. The ones I inadvertently overfilled overflowed and didn't release from the pan as easily. Overfilling also created a very domed top, and the cakes didn't sit as nicely for serving unless I trimmed them.
5. Keep an eye on the cakes as they bake
All ovens run a little differently, so you'll need to figure out what works best for your kitchen. But for a baseline, I found that at 350˚F, these times worked well:
- Small skulls: 12 to 13 minutes
- Medium skulls: 20 to 22 minutes
- Large skull: about 40 minutes
May the Halloween joy warm you to your bones.
