Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Cook's Guide entry for Ring Moulds along with all the Ring Moulds containing recipes presented on this site, with 20 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Ring Moulds recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Ring Moulds as a major wild food ingredient.

Ring Moulds, Savarin Moulds and Bundt Pans: for baking cakes and making desserts, ring moulds are a form of tin with a raised portion in the centre so that when the finished cake (or dessert) is turned out it has a void in the centre. Savarin moulds (top image) tend to be shallower and broader than classic ring moulds (centre).

In America, ring moulds are generally called Bundt pans (bottom image). These are derived from the classic German ceramic formers used to bake Bundkuchen (in Southern Germany and Austria these are called Gugelhupf, and in Switzerland Gugelhopf), a ring-shaped tea-time cake. The word bundt appears as early as 1901 in The Settlement Cookbook, written by Lizzie Kander of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. However, the modern aluminium former (which is base on the German ceramic original) was trademarked in 1950 by H. David Dalquist, founder of Nordic Ware, based in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. But it was not until a Pillsbury-sponsored baking contest in 1966 saw a bundt cake win second place that the pans became a commonplace cooking item in ordinary homes.

In Britain, the ring mould pans became commonplace during the 1840s with many fanciful shapes being sold. Typically they were used as formers for chilled desserts (jellies and blancmanges in the main). Only later, with commonplace use of baking powder as a raising agent did they start to be used for baking. There was a revival in their use in the 1980s with the decade's fashion for everything microwave. The ring-shaped moulds (made of glass or ceramic) allowed for better heat distribution in cake batters making them suitable for microwave cooking.

In Italy, the ring moulds are often used for pasta, with paste mixes being baked in them. When turned out, sauce or sauce and meatball mixes are poured into the central void before serving.