Santa Claus 3-D Cake Pan, Front

Nordic Ware, a family-owned manufacturing firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was founded in 1946 by brothers Dave and Mark Dalquist, as “Plastics for Industry.” In 1950, the brothers bought Northland Aluminum Products, a small firm with a line of “Nordic Ware” products including griddles and steak platters. The same year, Dave Dalquist created a cast aluminum, fluted cake pan and trademarked it as the “Bundt” pan. The company continued to grow its product line to include specialty baking and cookware items, including the microwave turntable. Nordic Ware is notable due to its history of product innovation through engineering, and its continued production of cookware in the United States.

This three-dimensional Santa Claus cake pan (front) was manufactured by Nordic Ware during the early 1950s. The pan is made of heavy cast aluminum in two sections to create a three-dimensional cake that looks like Santa Claus emerging from a chimney. Nordic Ware specialized in manufacturing a variety of seasonal cookware products, including several Christmas-themed cake pans.

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