What Happened To The Iconic Betty Crocker Bake 'N Fill?
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If you've spent any time in a kitchen, you've probably heard the name Betty Crocker. The iconic brand has provided households with baking mixes and kitchen gadgets since 1921. Betty Crocker may not have been a person, but the company has turned many confectionary dreams into a reality with its cake mixes and innovative baking tech. One of the cutting-edge baking devices that promised a unique type of cake with little effort was the Betty Crocker Bake 'n Fill.
The baking pan kit debuted back in 2004, complete with three unique pans that created a dome-shaped cake ready for any filling you could imagine. The exciting new product claimed to be easy to use, allowing the baker to insert anything from ice cream to fresh fruit without making a total mess. Like many of the "As Seen on TV" types of gadgets often do, the popular product did not stay in circulation very long and was discontinued by Betty Crocker. However, the deep memories that Bake 'n Fill brings forth keep the product alive on sites like eBay and second-hand stores, hoping for a nostalgic millennial to stumble upon it and finally try to create a cake full of their favorite filling.
Read more: Cake Hacks Every Baker Will Wish They Knew Sooner
This 2004 Infomercial Brings Back Serious Memories
Back in the early 2000s, when infomercials lived rent-free in the heads of those who regularly watched television, Betty Crocker's latest invention was all over TV screens. From the soothing voiceover to the grainy filter, the Betty Crocker Bake 'n Fill infomercial is a timeless classic. Commenters on YouTube could not get over how seeing the commercial again after nearly 20 years brought back childhood memories. One user reminisced, "I remember being 10 years old, wanting this so bad. I just knew I was going to be baking watermelon cakes on a regular basis." Another fan of the Bake 'n Fill said that having adult money now means they could finally buy one of their own, sharing, "I finally got my hands on one of these in a thrift store out of box. Had to show my family this commercial to jog their memories and justify my impulse purchase."
In recent years, the Y2K nostalgia train has revived tons of once-forgotten 2000s trends, even in the world of baking. Excited internet bakers have shared videos of finally trying the Bake 'n Fill, and the results have seriously varied. One creator on TikTok had trouble making their infomercial dreams come true, but they may not have let the cakes cool completely before filling, as the molten results indicate. A year later, the same TikToker made a second attempt and successfully recreated the ice cream-filled cake of their childhood dreams.
Can You Recreate The Bake 'N Fill Technique?
One of the reasons that the Betty Crocker Bake 'n Fill was so iconic at the time was how easy it was to use (or so it promised). Simply pour your cake batter into a dome-shaped mold, and out of the oven would come a cake ready for filling and assembling. Without a specific pan like the Bake 'n Fill, assembling a cake with a rounded top and a significant hole inside for filling is a difficult task -- but not an impossible one.
If you aren't lucky enough to come across this decades-old Betty Crocker baking gadget at your local thrift store, you can still recreate a Bake 'n Fill-style cake. However, it won't be as easy as filling a mold and letting it cool. To craft the dome shape required for a significant amount of filling, you will need to bake your cakes first and then layer pieces of cake into a lined bowl. Bakers suggest using sponge cake as your base since it is a pliable type of cake that will allow shaping without crumbling and losing its form completely. After chilling, your cake will be ready to fill and decorate, and no one will know that you weren't able to get your hands on the Betty Crocker Bake 'n Fill.
Read the original article on Daily Meal.
