The Bundt Pan:

The aluminum Bundt pan was invented in 1950, by H. David Dalquist, founder of Nordic Ware Bundt Pans, at the request of members of the Minneapolis Center of the Hadassah Society. They were interested in a pan that could be used to make kugel, a Jewish dessert. They had old ceramic cake pans of somewhat similar designs but wanted an aluminum one.

Dalquist created a new shape and added regular folds to make it easier to cut the cake. The women from the society called the pans "bund pans" because "bund" is German for a gathering of people. Dalquist added a "t" to the end of "bund" and trademarked the name.

For years, the company sold few of the pans. Then in 1996, a Texas woman won second place in the Pillsbury Bake-Off for her Tunnel of Fudge Cake made in a Bundt pan. The win prompted a nationwide scramble for the pan. Pillsbury licensed the name in 1970 for a line of cake mixes.

When H. David Dalquist died on January 6, 2005, the company had sold more than 50 million Bundt pans. It is the top-selling cake pan in the world.