13 Easy Cast Iron Skillet Dessert Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What can you bake in a cast iron skillet? ›

Your cast iron cookware is perfect for homemade cornbread and biscuits, sourdough bread, pies, and cakes.

We recommend starting with vegetables as they are more forgiving than most proteins - they taste delicious and won't stick to your pan! Keep in mind that using a little bit of oil is necessary to help to keep food from sticking.

This chocolate cake topped with milk chocolate frosting couldn't be easier—it's made, and baked, right in a cast iron skillet. Stella Parks is a CIA-trained baking nerd and pastry wizard, dubbed one of America's Best New Pastry Chefs by Food & Wine.

It Holds Heat & Makes Things More Foolproof

This reason is why bakers should love it too. Cast iron's ability to retain heat ensures the upside-down cake you're baking will be tender and evenly cooked without burning the sugary glaze, and your giant chocolate chip cookie is gooey throughout with nice chewy edges.

Eggs fall into the category of sticky foods that are not ideal for cast iron skillets that haven't built up their seasoning yet. While cast iron can become non-stick with sufficient use over time, a newer skillet will almost certainly cause your eggs to stick to its porous surface.

Cast iron pans are popular, especially for searing, and are generally safe to use. But they can leach iron, which is a strong pro-oxidant. Those genetically at risk for iron overload should learn more about cast iron safety. For well over a thousand years, cast iron has been used as a reliable cooking surface.

Since olive oil is such a pantry staple, many people naturally wonder if they can use olive oil to season cast iron. You can use olive oil to season cast iron, but you need to choose a high quality extra virgin olive oil, which should have a smoke point close to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Do not try to use nonstick sprays like Pam to season your cast iron skillet, as they contain other ingredients that aren't good for your pan.

All cooking oils and fats can be used for seasoning cast iron, but based on availability, affordability, effectiveness, and having a high smoke point, Lodge recommends vegetable oil, melted shortening, or canola oil, like our Seasoning Spray.

Can you use butter on cast iron? ›

Yes, you can season the pans for frying, sautéing, or baking in cast iron cookware like pans, pots, or skillets with butter, but it's not the right choice to season it for the first time. Butter immediately starts to smoke when added to a heated pan because cast iron can withstand a lot of heat.

The type of iron that comes from cast iron cooking is nonheme iron and is safe to consume. It is the same type of iron as found in plant sources such as beans, spinach and tofu. Children one to three years old only need 7mg iron daily, so if it's best not to cook every meal for children this age in cast iron cookware.

Not only can you cook eggs many ways in cast iron, you should: the material's superior heat retention and (especially in baking) heat distribution means better eggs—softer scrambles, crispier fried edges, and fluffier frittatas and stratas—no matter how you cook them.

The humble cast iron skillet is one of those inexpensive but indispensable kitchen tools that can stand in for a sandwich press, a pizza stone, a baking dish or sauté pan. Don't be intimidated by seasoning them–Now you can buy the skillets preseasoned, so they're ready to cook the day you bring them home.

Can You Put Cast-Iron in the Oven? Yes, this is one of the big draws of cast-iron cooking. It is just fine to go from stove to oven or boiler.

Yes. All cookware made of cast-iron is oven safe. You can use them in Oven with high-temperature and there is nothing to worry about oven or your cookware.

But despite some popular cooking myths, cast iron does not heat evenly—or quickly. That's why preheating is such an important (and often overlooked) step.