Cake Pans

Cake pans is one of the basic tools and pieces of equipment that we need to have in our kitchen in order to create cakes. Seems obvious, right? But cake pans actually come in a variety of shapes, sizes, depths, and, of course, multiple brands out there as well. I encourage you to try a couple of different styles of pans to see what you like. There is everything out there from a nonstick pan to just a stainless steel pan, and both of them will do a great job for you. You might just have to alter some of the temperatures that you're baking at, and you may have to prep them just a little bit differently. So let's head into the kitchen and take a peek at some different styles of cake pans. Cake pans come in a variety of materials. As you can see, I have three different styles here. I actually have an anodized aluminum, this is a nonstick coated pan, and this is typically going to be either a style of aluminum or even a stainless steel, and then silicone. So there's lots of varieties of materials that you can find baking pans in. There are some that are not shown here as well, such as glass, for instance, which I tend not to do a whole lot of baking in, mostly because they are not shatterproof. So let's talk about why you might use one of these over another. And more often than not, it's a personal preference. My personal preference is almost always to use the anodized aluminum. And the reason for that is this type of material bakes very evenly, and it also doesn't allow your cake to create a very dark crust. So this is a lighter crust on your cakes when you're baking. And the darker pans tend to have a darker crust, and the reason for that is because you need to increase the temperature by 25 degrees Fahrenheit when you're baking in something that has a nonstick coating like this or is just a darker pan in general. And you also need to decrease your baking time. So if you're using this style of cake pan, you can typically just go off of whatever your recipe says, which is typically baking at 350 degrees. And for other items that are darker or made of this nonstick coating, you tend to have to increase that temperature and decrease your bake time. So for me, this is my preference. But again, there are lots of styles out there that you can choose from. Cake pans traditionally come in a two-inch depth. 'Kay, so we're gonna talk about diameter. That is the first thing. And most styles of cake pans come in both odd and even sizes. You'll probably most traditionally find even sizes, with the exception of a nine-inch round. That tends to be a very popular size in round. But the depth is one of the things that you might have questions about. So we have a two-inch cake pan, and we have a three-inch cake pan. And the main reason for a difference in the height or the depth here, the two-inch pans are intended for you to create a layered cake. So you could do a single layer, or you can bake a second cake of the same size and create a double layer of cake. Whereas, when you bake with a three-inch pan, the intention is to only bake one layer of cake but then torte it. Either you're cutting this into halves or into thirds and creating layers of filling or icing inside of your cake. So whether you use a three-inch or use a two-inch is entirely up to you. I find that from a baking perspective, the two-inch cake pan bakes a little bit more evenly because the depth of our batter is thinner. So it just bakes a little bit better in my opinion. And anytime I'm using a deeper pan like this, I almost always will use a baking nail. So if you're not familiar with a baking nail, it's basically just a flat piece of metal, and then it has a rod attached to it and just sits in the center. It sorta helps create the transfer of heat into the middle of the cake, rather than just on the outside, around where the batter is touching your metal. And then the other great thing about cake pans is they come in a variety of shapes. So this is a half ball or a half sphere, and you could make two of these layers and put 'em together to make a full-sized ball. So that's kind of one of the nice things about cake pans is they don't just come in round anymore. They come in round, square, hexagon, oval, heart-shaped. You name it, you can probably find it at this point. And, of course, a lot of the pans come in what we call character styles. So if you're baking a cake in the shape of a particular animal or present box or those types of things, they often come in shapes like that as well. And then, of course, you have very traditional things like Bundt pans as well. So these all come in lots of different decor styles, depending upon on what you want to use them for. As far as silicone goes, there are a few uses for the silicone pans. You can absolutely bake in these and put them in your oven. I typically recommend putting a sheet pan underneath these just because they are a little bit more flexible with their material, rather than something that's firm and gonna hold its shape. I almost always will put these either right inside of another baking pan or on a sheet pan. So I'll just show you that, so you can see. The tendency is that these pans are just a little less stable on their own, and so I like to put it into something in order to bake it. And that just makes it a little easier to get it in and out of the oven and maintain its shape nicely. You don't have to, but that's my recommendation. Some of them are made a little bit more sturdier. You know, it just depends on, you know, how much support they're putting into these. But the great thing about these is that it makes it very easy to release cakes out of them because it is silicone. And so it's basically a nonstick surface, although I do spray and treat all of my cake pans. And the beauty of the silicone, again, is that they can also be used as pans to create chocolate molds, for instance. So you can use this, and it makes it very easy then to pop. Once this chocolate has settled and cooled, you can pop your chocolate out very easily. And then there's another style of cake where you actually, it's a mousse cake. And so you form the shape of your desserts inside of this, and you put it in the freezer. And they firm up, and then you're able to pop them out very easily, again, because of the material. And then usually you would coat them in like a mirror glaze or a gel or even a ganache or a poured chocolate over top of that. While there are a variety of cake pans out there, I truly believe there's no wrong answer when it comes to choosing the cake pan for your next project. I just encourage you to find one that works best for you and, of course, is in the shape and size that you need in order to create a beautiful cake.