what is this thing for?

[John E. Langbein]

Hi.
I was at an Auction today, and I picked up an interesting little
item. Here is it's description
Circular (3 or 4 in. diameter)
Center pushed down (or up): like for baking small shortcakes.
Printed in the center is the following:
MARY ANNS
SHELL PAN
KATZINGER CO
CHICAGO ILL
OLE MFRS
PAT NO
1388364

Does anyone out their know what it i for? I think it is a small baking
pan
of some kind, but I'm not sure.
Thanks in Advance,
John Langbein
topaz!langbein
langbein`blue langbein`topaz
(one of these adresses....or
post news)

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[root]

In article <52...@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU>, lang...@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (John E. Langbein) writes:
> I was at an Auction today, and I picked up an interesting little
> item. Here is it's description
> Circular (3 or 4 in. diameter)
> Center pushed down (or up): like for baking small shortcakes.
> Printed in the center is the following:

> MARY ANNS SHELL PAN KATZINGER CO.......

>
> Does anyone out their know what it i for? I think it is a small baking
> pan of some kind, but I'm not sure.

Think of the rather flat butter cakes you have seen in German bakeries:
richly golden of crumb, with a shallow, level depression holding some-
thing like a wealth of apricot-glazed peach and Kiwi fruit slices. At
the other extreme are the cello-wrapped cakes in the supermarkets meant
to be filled with strawberrys and whipped cream. The pan for making these
distinctively shaped cakes is called a _Mary Ann pan_ when it doesn't have
fluted edges and an obsttortenform when it does.
Sounds like you may have gotten one of the styles that was popular
around the turn of the centry. In the "fashionable" homes of the period
when guests were expected, the cook would make a dozen or so of these
delightful little beauties filled with a varity of fillings.
Scotty
...ihnp4!killer!ozdaltx!root

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