I Tested 5 Cake Pans and Found Two Favorites for Evenly Baked and Browned Layers

Once you get good cake pans, you’ll wonder how you went so long with ones that burnt the edges of your vanilla sponge and left the middle a sad, saggy soup. 

As a baker and recipe developer, I like to have three cake pan sizes on hand: 6-, 8- and 9-inch. But if I had to pick one, it would be eight inches, and it’s a good thing because that’s the size I tested here. For this lineup, I limited myself to light-colored, straight-sided pans made from aluminum, anodized aluminum, or aluminized steel. (This type of pan is the one we've recommended in the past thanks to their even heat conductivity.) 

The Winners, at a Glance

The Best Cake Pan

Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial Round Layer Cake Pan

View On Amazon $20

The best cake pan in our lineup was the Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial Round Layer Cake Pan. It baked tall, fluffy cakes that avoided doming, just barely sloping on top. The light color of the pure, uncoated aluminum body evenly cooked the sides, bottom, and top of the cake, turning the whole thing a consistent light brown color that was perfectly done in the center and not at all dry on the edges. 

Another Great Cake Pan

Williams Sonoma Traditional Touch Round Cake Pan

View On Williams-Sonoma $23

This pan came in second place in our tests, producing fluffy, delicious white cake and genoise sponge, but still falling behind Nordic Ware on both recipes. It’s heavy and pricier, but it’s otherwise sturdy and heats evenly and gently.

The Tests

• White Cake Test: I made white cake batter from this recipe and baked one layer in each tin. Since there were five pans and the recipe made enough for three layers, I made two batches and filled each tin with 760 grams of batter. (I baked off the excess in another pan.) I baked each cake until they were done, noting how level the cakes rose, and evaluating their browning and how evenly they baked. Of course, I also tasted them for texture and flavor. 
• Genoise Sponge Cake Test (Winners-Only): With the winners of the first round, I baked a Genoise sponge cake in each tin to determine how they performed with a more airy cake. After removing the cakes from their tins, I recorded the evenness of the rise and browning, as well as their interior structure, taste, and texture. In both tests, I noted how hard it was to remove the cakes from the tin and any crumbs that stuck behind.  
• Cleaning and Durability Tests: I evaluated how easy it was to remove cake debris from each pan and wash it, as well as how well each pan seemed to stand up to the wear and tear of testing. 

What We Learned

Aluminum, Aluminized Steel, and Anodized Aluminum

Our favorite pan from Nordic Ware is made of pure, uncoated aluminum. But here’s the kicker, both our least favorite (USA Pan) and our second-most favorite (Williams Sonoma) were made of aluminized steel, which has been plated with aluminum or an aluminum-silicon alloy. One difference between the two is USA Pan is a shade darker in color (it was the darkest pan of the lineup) than the Williams Sonoma. Also, the Williams Sonoma isn’t non-stick, while the USA Pan is, which could have impacted how the cakes rose. I'll talk about both of these differences below. 

That brings us to anodized aluminum, which is aluminum that, through an electrochemical process, has been dipped in a series of tanks that cause it to “grow” an outer layer of aluminum oxide that is wear and corrosion-resistant. Our two mid-level performers—Fat Daddio’s and Wilton—were both made of this material. These anodized aluminum pans produced cakes that were the most domed and least evenly browned of the bunch, with Wilton being the worst of the two. This uneven cooking also made them prone to sinkage. 

Pan Color and Finish Made a Difference

While most of the pans were about the same medium-grey color, it was interesting to note that the poorest performing pan from USA Pan was also the darkest. For baked goods like muffins, darker pans are sometimes preferred because they conduct more heat, baking the outsides of the muffins faster, and sending the batter shooting up (this gives them their signature tall tops). 

For cakes on the other hand, you want a pan that heats evenly over a long period so that there’s less of a dome, making the cakes easier to stack and frost. (Plus, you don’t want to waste cake by trimming off a lot of the top.) USA Pan produced the darkest cake of the bunch. Since the edges and top became dark quickly, the color made it difficult to tell if the cake was cooked on the inside, which could have led to a false reading on doneness. The USA Pan cake was overcooked on the edges, but still dense at the bottom, leading us to think it sank. This happens when the outer edges of the cake cook faster than the inside. 

On the other side of things, Nordic Ware, our winner, had a very light, reflective surface (you could practically see yourself in it). 

Nonstick Pans vs…Sticky Pans?

Another reason the USA Pan might have underperformed could be one of its selling points: It’s the only explicitly nonstick model. When dealing with a white cake recipe with a light and fluffy batter— with two tablespoons of baking powder as well as whipped eggs that need time to set after they bake—the batter should cling onto the side of the pan a bit as it climbs up, and also when it comes out of the oven. This helps the cake hold itself up and not immediately sink when cooling. 

Did Pan Weight Impact Performance?

I was intrigued to find that the two worst-performing pans were both the heaviest and lightest models, with USA Pan at 14 ounces and Wilton at just 4.8 ounces. Meanwhile, our winner was in the middle at 11 ounces. But then again, one of the middling pans, the Fat Daddio’s, weighed in at 10.1 ounces (I should note that this is a 3-inch deep pan and that their 2-inch deep pan weighs around 8.6 ounces). Generally speaking, any kind of pan or bakeware with a thicker construction will heat slower and more evenly, which is good when it comes to cake. For this reason, I would opt for cake pans that feel more substantial than, say, the one from Wilton.

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Cake Pan

I prefer light-colored aluminum, anodized aluminum, or aluminized steel pans over other materials, especially those that are dark-colored or non-stick. Dark pans conduct too much heat, baking cakes too fast on the outside. This creates a layer that insulates the interior, leading to a cake that is either overbaked or sinks and becomes gummy in the middle. Nonstick pans tend to be darker, and they’re less versatile: Some cake recipes benefit from, or even require, the cake clinging onto the sides of the pan. You can make any pan non-stick by greasing it with butter, lining the bottom with parchment, and dusting the sides with a small amount of flour (or even lining the sides with strips of parchment). Avoid purchasing the “nesting” cake pans with sloped sides as these make it difficult to stack and frost a layer cake. 

Our Favorite Cake Pans 

The Best Cake Pan

Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial Round Layer Cake Pan

View On Amazon $20

What we liked: With both the white cake and the Genoise sponge recipes, this cake pan rose above the rest—literally. In both tests, not only did cakes bake up tall and fluffy (the white cake came in a full 1/4-inch taller than Williams Sonoma) but it was consistently the most level, avoiding doming so much that you’d barely have to trim either cake to stack, fill, and frost them. Its uncoated, pure aluminum body feels sturdy at 11 ounces and just dense enough to conduct heat steadily. A reflective, light-colored exterior prevents overheating that can cause cakes to overbake on the outside and become dense in the middle. Plus, it has a galvanized steel ring tucked under its rim to prevent warping. 

It’s a half-inch taller than the models from Wilton, USA Pan, and Williams Sonoma. The white cake recipe baked up to around the edge of the latter three, exposing their tops to too much heat, which led to shrinking that created a wrinkled surface. Nordic Ware’s added height gave the cake tons of room to expand, shielded it from too much heat, and prevented wrinkles on the white cake. Plus, you have a little extra wiggle room for more batter in other recipes without the fear of doming or overflowing. 

What we didn’t like: We struggled for just a moment to release the white cake from this pan, and in the end, it popped out with some minimal tearing on the sides. However, it released the Genoise sponge perfectly.

Because this pan is uncoated, pure aluminum (not anodized aluminum or aluminized steel, which both help prevent corrosion and wear) it seems slightly more prone to scratches and scrapes. Anecdotally, I’ve had aluminum pans for years and, unlike aluminized steel pans (like Williams Sonoma or USA Pan) they tend to dent more easily if dropped on their bottom edge, for example. 

Other than that, the only potential downside is the price of $19, which falls in the middle of our lineup at $5 more than the cheapest model (Wilton) and $4 less than the most expensive (Williams Sonoma).

Key Specs

• Materials: Aluminum body, galvanized steel ring in rim
• Weight: 11 ounces
• Dimensions: 8 5/8 inches in diameter
  
• Care instructions: Hand wash with warm, soapy water; dishwasher use is not advised, as discoloration will occur

Another Great Cake Pan

Williams Sonoma Traditional Touch Round Cake Pan

View On Williams-Sonoma $23

What we liked: This standard-size pan made from aluminized steel performed significantly better than the other option of the same material (the USA Pan). Coming in second place, the pan produced a white cake that was fluffy, tall (at 2 1/8 inches, it was just 1/4-inch under the winner), and contained no dense or gummy spots. The edges avoided becoming dry and overbaked, and the center didn't dome too much, getting an even rise and browning all over. (However, Nordic Ware still bested it on all of those fronts.) Also, its material seemed to resist wear and tear better than the Nordic Ware. 

What we didn’t like: It was let down in the second round, baking a Genoise sponge that was good, but slumped in the middle and wasn’t nearly as tall and fluffy as Nordic Ware’s. At 13.8 ounces, it was the second heaviest pan, which, when full of cake batter, did make a noticeable difference. While the white cake released easily from this pan, there was still some slight breakage on the sides. Plus, at $23, it was the most expensive pan I tested.

Key Specs

• Materials: Commercial-grade aluminized steel
• Weight: 13.8 ounces
• Dimensions: 8 3/8 inches in diameter
  
• Care instructions: Hand-wash only; do not put in the dishwasher; never use abrasive cleaning products or scouring pads

The Competition 

• Fat Daddio’s Anodized Aluminum Round Cake Pan: A model that we have recommended before, this pan is the only 3-inch-deep model I tested. The white cake baked in this pan was good, but not great. It was fluffy toward the top, but denser at the bottom. It domed the most out of any other cake, and was the darkest on the sides and the palest in the middle. Both of these suggest the pan is not the best at cooking evenly and steadily. Anecdotally speaking, while I have used Fat Daddio’s pans at home for years with a lot of success, I have noticed occasional sinkage with more liquid or fat-heavy batters, like the white cake I made in this review. Just to be sure it wasn’t the 3-inch depth that caused problems, I also baked the same amount of batter in a 9x2-inch Fat Daddio’s cake tin and got similar results. 
• USA Pan Bakeware Nonstick Round Cake Pan, 8-Inch: Unlike the other aluminized steel pan from Williams Sonoma, this pan was slightly darker, but overall had the same weight, thickness, and height. Yet it still produced a white cake with a thicker band of browning around the bottom, sides, and top. The well-done bake on its outsides didn’t help its insides, as there was a dense band of cake at the bottom. The whole cake became the darkest of the bunch, but to its credit, it was fairly evenly browned and avoided doming too much. USA Pan pans have a fluted bottom, which is supposed to increase airflow and make them sturdier. It’s possible this feature made a difference, especially since the fluting provides more surface area for heating on the bottom of the pan, but we weren’t able to decisively say. One good thing: The nonstick surface meant that removing the cakes was a breeze.
• Wilton Aluminum 8-Inch Round Cake Pan Set: This pan, made of anodized aluminum like Fat Daddio’s, gets the bottom spot. Not only was there a dense band at the bottom of the white cake thanks to sinkage, but it was also slightly gummy. At 1 7/8-inch, it also rose the least. It’s lightweight (4.8 ounces), cheap ($17 for two), and felt flimsy.

FAQs

How do you get cake out of a pan?

To loosen the cake from the tin, run a mini offset spatula or butter knife around the edge of the tin, keeping your pressure on the tin to avoid cutting into the cake. For smaller, sturdier cakes, you can simply invert the cool cake onto your hand (if the tins have cooled off) and then place the cake right side up on a rack to cool completely.

Otherwise, place a wire rack, top-side down, on the cake pan. Then, use both hands (with oven mitts or a kitchen towel if the pan is hot) to flip over the pan and wire rack at once. The cake should come right out if you’ve prepared the tin properly, but give it a few taps if it doesn’t, or just wait a bit for gravity to do its work. Lift the tin off and, if necessary, place another wire rack, or a plate on top and flip both over together so the cake is right side up again. 

How do you grease a cake pan?

Make sure you follow the recipe's instructions for greasing or lining a cake tin because some batters need more or less pan prep than others. To prep a cake pan for maximum stick prevention, brush the whole interior with a small amount of softened butter (using the end of a butter stick or a butter stick wrapper with some butter on it also works). Then, place the bottom of the tin on some parchment paper, trace around the bottom, and cut out the circle. Place the parchment into the bottom of the pan, then, optionally, dust the interior sides with flour and tap out the excess. 

For nonstick pans, which we don’t recommend, you could get away with just a bit of baker’s spray. 

How full do you fill a cake pan? 

In most cases, you should fill your cake pans no more than two-thirds of the way with batter. However, always defer to the recipe as written. 

Under-filling your pans can also present a problem, as cookbook author and pastry expert Stella Parks notes in her treatise on cake pans. “Without sufficient batter in the pan, a cake doesn't rise as well or as evenly,” she writes. “The change in surface area means the batter will set faster than it can rise, leading to weird bubbles, cracks, and blemishes in the crust.”

How long do you let cake cool in a pan?

This is an answer that depends heavily on the type of cake and the recipe. For standard butter and oil cakes whose main leavening is baking soda or baking powder. Usually, allowing cakes to cool for five to 10 minutes in their tins, then turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely, is advised. 

However, sometimes cakes must cool completely in their tins like the white cake from this test. The Genoise sponge required the same, only inverted upside-down to help prevent their fragile structures from succumbing to gravity and slumping. Again, always defer to the recipe. 

Why We’re the Experts

• For this review, we tested five cake pans with two cake recipes, a standard white cake and one that’s a little more finicky (a Genoise sponge). 
• Eric King is a recipe developer, writer, and social media creator who has run the baking blog easygayoven for many years.