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Some call it a bundt pan, a fluted pan, or even an angel food cake pan. Do you have one? Do you use it?
A tube pan is slightly different than a bundt pan. A bundt pan (pictured below) has indentations that make bumps on the finished cake. A tube pan has a flat bottom and sides. They are otherwise the same, and all of the following suggestions will work in either kind of pan.
At the opening dinner of the Savvy Blogging Summit this past weekend, Debba confided that she’d thrown her bundt pan away. Another person at our table, Taya, said the only reason she still has her bundt pan was that it had been a wedding gift, and she felt guilty about tossing it. I was surprised because my bundt pan is indispensable!
When I started rattling off things to do with a bundt pan, Amy asked me to post it on my blog.
How could I say no?
The conversation got me thinking; I wondered how many of my Dear Readers also believe their bundt pans to be useless.
You may notice that angel food cake isn’t even on my list.
10 Things to Cook in a Bundt Pan
- Any cake. I hope this isn’t a cop out, but any cake (especially a boxed cake mix) will come out beautifully in a bundt pan. The sections make portion control easy, and the cake will be gorgeous if you microwave some frosting (to make it pourable) and pour it over the top of the cake.
- Meatloaf. If you want to put A1 or ketchup on top of the meatloaf, that needs to go into the pan first. Remember, when you serve a bundt, you turn it upside down. To make it fancy, you can fill the center with mashed potatoes when you serve it.
- Roast a chicken. Use a 3-4 pound whole roasting chicken. Rinse it well inside and out, then stand it up (legs down) over the center of the pan. Rub the chicken with olive oil and the spices of your choice, add veggies in the well of the pan, and bake at 350, 20 minutes per pound.
- Monkey bread or garlic bread. This couldn’t be easier. Start with a can of premade biscuits (we like Grands’ but use whatever you like). Cut each biscuit in quarters with a knife or scissors. Melt a half stick of butter and mix it with 6-7 cloves of garlic or a few tablespoons of cinnamon and sugar. Toss the biscuit quarters with the butter mixture, and bake according to the package directions. Because the biscuits are stacked up, they’ll probably take 10 to 15 minutes longer than the package instructions claim. Check them frequently.
- Bread. Why not make a ring of bread instead of a loaf?
- Baked potatoes. After greasing the pan, stand the potatoes upright in it, and space them evenly around the ring.
- Sweet potato casserole. Again, make sure that your topping is on the bottom of the pan so that it is on the top when you turn it out onto a serving dish.
- Jello. Okay, it’s cliche, but a bundt pan makes a great Jello mold. Mix up the Jello, pour it in, add some fruit, and chill.
- Antipasto bread. Chop 1 jar of artichoke hearts, 2-3 ounces of pepperoni, and 1/2 of a red pepper. In a mixing bowl, combine chopped ingredients with 1 can of sliced black olives and 2 cloves of garlic, pressed. Cut 2 packages of pre-made biscuits (see my note above in the monkey bread tip) into quarters. Dip 16 pieces of biscuit in melted butter, roll in freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and arrange in the bundt pan. Top with 1/2 cup of the artichoke mixture, then 16 more biscuits that have been dipped in butter and rolled in cheese. Continue repeating the layers until you’ve used all of the ingredients. Bake about 30 minutes at 375.
- Apple pull aparts. Melt 1/3 cup butter and whisk together with 1/2 cup brown sugar. Pour into the bottom of the bundt pan. Sprinkle a handful of chopped pecans over the butter mixture. Slice the dinner rolls in 2 packages in half (so that they make thinner biscuits not half circles). Roll half of the biscuit pieces in a mixture of 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Layer over pecans in the bundt pan. Sprinkle another 1/4 cup of chopped pecans over the rolls. Sprinkle 1 large apple, chopped, over the pecans, and layer the rest of the dinner rolls (rolled in the cinnamon and sugar mixture) over the top. Bake 35 to 40 minutes at 375.
No matter what you’re making in the bundt pan, be sure to spritz it generously with cooking spray or grease well to prevent sticking.
Also, allow the bundt pan to cool for just 5 minutes before inverting it onto a platter or cooling rack.
What do you use your bundt pan for?
For the most part, these recipes and tips came from my days as a kitchen consultant for The Pampered Chef.
© 2010 – 2013, Tara Ziegmont. All rights reserved.
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{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
awesome post!! can't wait to try some of the recipes!
So clever.
My angel food cake pan is an actual angel food cake pan… the kind that comes apart. Don't even own a bundt pan. Might have to get one now, though!
You should still be able to do these things with it, Amy. If you're worried about the seal, line it with foil.
I don't even own a bundt pan but now I feel like I MUST own one!!
Great tips!! Thanks for sharing, Tara.
I never would have thought about some of these! I'm going to have to add a bundt pan to my Christmas list
LOL! That wasn't my intention! You can do most of these things in any baking dish, so don't go out and buy something new!
No, don't do that! You can do most of these things with a regular old baking dish, too!
I LOVE my bundt pan already… now I do even more because you have given me great new ideas for it! I have a cinnamon crescent swirl recipe that is awesome in my bundt pan!! LOVE the chicken idea….will be using that one!
We always made our monkey bread in a bundt pan, and I love the garlic bread idea! Great list, Tara!
Great tips! I love using a bundt pan for regular cakes largely because I'm to lazy to make frosting once I've been through the effort of baking and clean up. But with a bundt, I can just dust the cake with powdered sugar and call it good! It also cuts down on the baking time a little.
You can also use a bundt pan for bread pudding and similar desserts. And about once a year I have company over that warrants having a punch bowl. Instead of ice cubes, you can fill the bundt pan halfway with lemonade or somesuch, put some berries in it, and freeze. Then you have a decorative ice ring floating in the punch bowl, and all the fruit winds up on the top of the ring.
Great ideas! I never thought of making ice in it, but that would be awesome.
I love bundts pans…..honestly I may have a slight addiction to bundt pans. I make at least one thing a week in my bundt. Our favorite recipes are a banana bundt and caramel apple cake.
Yum! Do you have those recipes online somewhere? We'd love to try them!
We make all our cakes in our Bundt pan and melt the frosting like you said. But I admit, everything else was pure genius! I loved the ideas.
an ice ring to float in a punch bowl:)
YUMMY! Definitely going to have to try some of these like the chicken and meatloaf.
We love using ours for cakes and pull aparts.
I started making banana bread in a bundt pan about a year ago. It's the perfect size for a double batch of bread. Sometimes I throw in chocolate chips. With three boys (and often a few extra kids coming to play after school), this makes a great snack!
When I make cakes in the bundt pan, my boys call it “donut cake.”
I've done meatloaf in mine too! I also made a pretty ice ring a couple of times, for punch bowls. Except we didn't have a punch bowl, so really I was just trying to classy up a mixing bowl.
I make quick breads in it a lot too- pumpkin or banana nut. I have to double or triple recipes and the bundt is big enough to hold it all!
Awesome! I have both a bundt pan and an angel food cake pan and never thought of anything other than cake and monkey bread.
Question on the chicken – you said put the legs down over the center of the pan, do you put a cookie sheet underneath to catch any drippings? I'd like to see a picture the next time you make it.
I don't put a cookie sheet under it, but I have a self cleaning oven. I don't worry about the things that drip down.
I’d still put something under it to catch drippings. That grease has the potential to start a fire if you don’t get your oven clean before using it again. *hangs head in shame from the experience*
WOW. The antipasto bread and apple pullaparts sound AMAZING. Have to try those. And I have to say, I love my bundt pan too; have a stoneware one from Pampered Chef (so spoiled!).
Yes! There's nothing like that stoneware fluted pan, is there? That's the one that I use most often, too. I have a least as many ideas for the mini fluted pan, too. It's an awesome little baking pan, but I was worried that not many people would have them. (If I thought they did, I'd write another post about that one specifically.)
What great ideas! All we ever do with our bundt pan is get cakes stuck in it hehe
Smart lady! I use mine for cake and for cutting corn off the cob. I saw the corn thing on TV…you stand the cob up in the hole in the middle and slice the corn off. It all falls into the pan instead of all over the place! I can't wait to try some of your ideas.
That is so smart! I would never have come up with that one.
I just made a basic cake in a Bundt for Libbie's birthday party–dyed it and the frosting orange and voila, it was a pumpkin! There are pictures on this post: http://www.vanderbiltwife.com/2009/10/libbies-b…
I also use mine for monkey bread or bubble bread. I love all your ideas!! Totally bookmarking this post.
Thanks for all the fantastic suggestions – my tube pan has been one of the few pieces of equipment in my kitchen that doesn't get a heavy workout
I really love the baked potato suggestion – I would never have thought of that one! I bake tons of bread so I'm not sure why I've never done it the tube pan, either. I'm going to have lots of fun experimenting!!
Just thought you should know that I think you're a genius! Meatloaf?? A Whole Chicken?? Brilliant.
Wow, love this! I just used mine last night for a Lemon Pound Cake… but now that I think of it I rarely use it for anything but pound cake or coffee cake. This must change!
I just came across another use for a bundt pan. I’ve written about it here:
http://trialanderrorhomeec.blogspot.com/2010/08/ktt-new-way-to-serve-ice-cream.html
I found a new use for a bundt pan – making a fruit ring for a punch bowl. I put frozen fruit into the bottom of the pan with a little water (but you could use juice) and froze it. With a little water, I thawed it just enough to loosen and it popped out. Perfect size for a standard punch bowl.
Awesome idea! Thanks for stopping by to share it.
I love the Apple pull aparts idea for the bundt pan!
Great ideas- especially the one about baking potatoes! That falls into my ‘why didn’t I think of that?’ file. Brilliant way to save oven space. Thanks for sharing this one.
I love my bundt pan! I make alot of cakes for church dinners in it and I often use it to make quick breads out of muffin mixes.
I love this post! Great ideas!
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