Cake Baking Equipment

Straight-sided cake pans meant for baking round cakes and cake layers came into common use during the nineteenth century. See pans. American and British professional and home bakers still use them today; American pans are usually 1½ to 2 inches deep, whereas British ones are deeper owing to the British preference for taller plain cakes. French closed cake pans, about 2 inches deep, have sloped sides and are referred to as moules à manqué (molds for ruined [cake]). The term is said to have originated with a baker who, on removing his butter-enriched sponge cake from the oven, found that the cake had not risen as much as he had hoped and cried, “Le gâteau est manqué!” (“The cake is ruined!”) Recipes for gâteau manqué appear in many French baking collections to this day.