If you've ever debated baking a cake in a glass pan versus a metal pan, or had cookies burn on the bottom at 350 ºF within a "reasonable" amount of baking time, this post is for you! Learn everything you need to know about baking pans and bakeware, from how the pan's material and colour affect baking to why pans may warp, bend, or rust.
The point of this post isn't to have you throw out all your bakeware and buy new. Instead, I hope this post helps you understand how your baking pans affect your baking and how to adjust and adapt, regardless of what bakeware you're using!
If you want to easily convert recipes from one pan size to another, I recommend investing in the complete baking conversion charts bundle to get conversion charts for ingredients, pans, temperatures, volumes, weights, and more.
Jump to:
- Bakeware Material And Impact On Baking
- impact Of Gauge Of Metal Bakeware
- impact Of Pan Colour On Baking
- Baking Pan Recommendations
- Bakeware FAQs
- Do you preheat the oven with the baking pan inside?
- Shallow vs deep baking pans
- Why do baking pans warp or bend in the oven?
- Why do baking pans rust?
- Why do glass pans explode?
- Best practices for cleaning bakeware
- Need More Help With Cake Pans?
Bakeware Material And Impact On Baking
Different baking pan materials behave differently in the oven, which can throw off baking times. Baking times depend heavily on the baking pan material, but once you know how each material reacts, you can adjust temperatures and times like a pro!
When we think about bakeware material, we must consider thermal conductivity, the material's ability to transfer heat to baked goods in the oven. A material with higher thermal conductivity transfers heat more effectively. For example, aluminum is an excellent heat conductor, as shown when we compare it to Pyrex glass, which has lower thermal conductivity. Silicone is not a good heat conductor. Keep these numbers in mind as we go through each type of bakeware material.
| Material | Thermal Conductivity (W/m*K) |
|---|---|
| Silicone rubber | 0.2 |
| Teflon | 0.3 |
| Ceramic | 1 |
| Anodized aluminum | 1.06 |
| Pyrex glass | 1.2 |
| Stainless steel | 15 |
| Aluminized steel | 45 |
| Enamel cast iron | 46 |
| Carbon steel | 47 |
| Cast iron | 52 |
| Aluminum | 237 |
| Copper | 401 |
These numbers are for comparison purposes, drawn from a few sources, to give an idea of how one material compares to another.
Aluminum
Aluminum is a great heat conductor, meaning the metal transfers heat to baked goods well. This is why aluminum bakeware is so popular. Ideally, invest in top-quality aluminum pans, crafted from an even, thick sheet of metal. Thick, even aluminum pans help your baked goods bake evenly. Poor-quality pans are sometimes made with uneven, thin metal sheets, which can create hot spots where the cake browns more in certain places.
One drawback to aluminum is that it's reactive! If the pH of the food is low (acidic) or high (basic), the aluminum will react and may leach into what your baking. This isn't a problem for most recipes, but if you are baking a blueberry rhubarb crisp, for example, you would want to reach for a ceramic dish or a pan with a non-reactive coating.
I ran into problems with my bakeware when I baked this moist rhubarb cake: the rhubarb reacted with the pan, etching it and leaving black marks in places.
Stainless steel
Stainless steel is an iron alloy, meaning it's made from a mixture of metals and other non-metal materials. The metals vary from one type of stainless steel to another, as well as the percentages of each. This means not all stainless steels are created equal, and their properties vary by quality. In general, stainless steel isn't a great heat conductor, but it's popular because it's easy to clean and doesn't tarnish or rust (unless your stainless steel is very bad quality). I honestly don't bake with stainless steel.
Silicone
Silicone is an insulator, meaning it doesn't conduct heat well to your cakes and cookies. If you've ever baked a batch of cookies on a pan lined with a silicone baking mat and compared them to a batch baked on a parchment-lined sheet pan, the difference is quite striking: if you bake the cookies for the same amount of time, the cookies on the silicone liner will be under-baked and won't brown in the same amount of time as the cookies baked on parchment. Baking with silicone baking mats may cause cookies to spread thin.
If you want soft cookies, baking on silicone is a great option! For cakes, nobody likes under-baked cake, so you will have to adjust and increase the baking time, inevitably if you bake a cake in a silicone cake pan.
Glass
Glass is a poor conductor of heat, so it isn't good at transferring heat from the pan to what you are baking. Baking in glass is slower, meaning recipes take longer to bake. You will notice this with pies, which take longer to brown on the bottom if you bake them on a glass pie plate. That's why I now bake my pies in metal pie plates, which do a better job of baking and browning the bottom crust. Metal pie pans are one of my essential tools for making pie and my secret weapon for a properly baked bottom pie crust.
Glass is an insulator, meaning it retains heat well. This is why glass baking dishes are so popular for casseroles! Glass can go from oven to dinner table, retaining heat for longer so the food stays warm. Bake the same casserole in a metal pan, and it will lose heat quickly when you put it on the table, so your food will cool faster.
I recommend investing in the complete baking conversion charts bundle for converting ingredients, pans, temperatures, volumes, weights, and more.
Cast iron
People love baking and cooking with cast iron pans passed down through generations. Iron conducts heat fairly well, and a well-seasoned pan is non-stick. Seasoning involves brushing a very thin, even coating of oil over the entire surface of the pan, including the underside, then baking it at a very high temperature. Heat causes the oil to polymerize into a non-stick polymer, which is why it doesn't wash off with soap and water.
Ceramic
Like glass, ceramic is a poor heat conductor but a great insulator, so it's not good at transferring heat to baked goods. On the other hand, ceramic is great at retaining heat, so it's useful if you want to serve a dish warm. Ceramic is a popular material in slow cookers because it holds heat for a long time. It's also great for casseroles that you want to serve warm, table-side.
Enamel cast-iron
Some cast iron pans have an enamel coating to protect the iron and prevent rusting. These pans combine cast iron's thermal conductivity with a shiny non-stick coating that also holds heat well.
Insulated metal
Over a decade ago, insulated metal pans were popular, made from two sheets of metal with an air gap in between. Insulated pans appear thicker, though they are made from two thin sheets of metal because of the gap between the layers. That air makes it harder to burn cookies.
Insulated pans grew in popularity because they reduced browning of baked goods, especially cookies, resulting in softer, lighter-coloured cookies. If you are a fan of under-baked cookies, consider switching to insulated pans (or using a silicone liner as mentioned above).
impact Of Gauge Of Metal Bakeware
The higher the gauge, the thinner the pan. The lower the gauge, the thicker the pan. You might not know the gauge of the metal sheet used to make your bakeware, and that's okay! The important thing is to remember that thicker aluminum pans heat up more, and your baked goods will bake faster in a thicker metal pan than in a thinner metal pan.
impact Of Pan Colour On Baking
Yes, the colour of your bakeware can affect how much your baked goods brown in the oven, and you should make adjustments to the baking temperature according to the bakeware you are using.
Dark finish vs light finish
Darker materials radiate more heat than lighter materials. So a pan with a dark, dull (matte) finish will radiate the most heat, while a pan with a shiny aluminum finish will radiate the least.
Pans that radiate the most heat are the best at transferring heat to baked goods. With darker pans, I recommend dropping the oven temperature by 25 ºF, so baking at 325 ºF instead of 350 ºF in order to achieve the same bake in roughly the same time as a dessert baked in a lighter pan. Why? Darker finishes radiate more heat, so your baked goods will be exposed to a higher temperature on the bottom in a dark pan versus a lighter pan. In order to mitigate this, lower the oven temperature.
Similarly, if your recipe was developed for and suggests baking in a darker pan, but you want to use a light-coloured pan, you should increase the oven temperature by 25 ºF. Bake the recipe at 375 ºF instead of 350 ºF to achieve the same bake.
Baking Pan Recommendations
At this point, knowing all of this, you might be wondering what the best baking pans to invest in are. Here's what types of pans I recommend for each type of baked goods:
- For cakes, invest in aluminum cake pans with a light finish, like the Wilton Professional bakeware line. It's light in colour and has a matte finish. If you plan on making layer cakes, buy 3 cake pans of the same size and type. I like to bake in 6-inch cake pans and these are the Wilton Performance pans I use from Amazon.
- For quick breads and loaf cakes, I like pans with a lighter finish. Lately, I've been baking in OXO Good Grips pans with the gold non-stick finish (from Amazon). I love this line of pans, though I have noticed that the cake edges brown more than in lighter-finish pans, so if you go with the gold pans, you may need to explore baking at a lower temperature (like 325 ºF instead of 350 ºF).
- For cookies, buy at least two sheet pans, preferably heavy-duty with a light finish, like large half-sheet pans, so you can fit more cookies per pan and stagger them to allow airflow. I like the Nordic Ware sheet pans on Amazon. If you plan to bake pizzas or other recipes where you want the bottom to brown, invest in pans with a darker finish or increase the baking temperature to ensure the bottoms brown properly.
- For pies, buy a metal pie plate with a darker finish, which combines extra heat radiation with good heat conduction! It's the perfect combination for baking pie crust bottoms so you avoid the dreaded soggy bottom and under-baked pies! These dark metal pans from Amazon work great, and I love USA Pans pie plates made of aluminized steel.
- For cheesecakes, a light springform with a good seal is essential, so you can bake cheesecakes in a water bath gently and evenly, avoiding cracks and reducing browning on the edges. I like these Fat Daddio springform pans, or these Wilton springform pans on Amazon.
- For bundts, the best in the industry is Nordic Ware bundt pans. They have a special non-stick coating that keeps baked goods from getting stuck in intricate patterns and grooves. Nordic Ware pans are heavy-duty, and the company has a great reputation for good reasons. The anniversary pan on Amazon is heavy-duty. It's what I use on this website most of the time.
| Recipe | Bakeware |
|---|---|
| Cookies | aluminum (Nordic Ware) |
| Layer cakes | anodized aluminum (Wilton or Fat Daddio) |
| Bundt cakes | coated aluminum (Nordic Ware) |
| Pies | metal like aluminum or aluminized steel (USA Pans) |
| Crumbles & crisps | Glass or ceramic (Pyrex) |
| Cheesecakes | annodized aluminum (Fat Daddio) |
| Loaf cakes | aluminum or aluminized steel (OXO or USA Pans) |
| Sourdough bread | cast iron, Double Dutch oven or regular Dutch oven or |
Tip: Different pans are labelled and sold with different measurements. For example, bundt pan sizes are expressed as a volume (for example, a 10-cup bundt pan) whereas a loaf pan is labelled by length and width (for example, a 9x5-inch pan). Read all about how to measure cake pan sizes to learn more.
Bakeware FAQs
Non-stick bakeware has a coating on the metal surface to prevent baked goods from sticking. It works pretty well, so you don't have to grease non-stick bakeware. That being said, I usually prepare all cake pans the same way, with grease and flour to prevent any issues. It's extra insurance so nothing sticks, regardless of what you are baking.
If the non-stick coating on your bakeware is damaged, there's a risk that it may chip off further into your food when you serve from it. If you have pans where the non-stick coating is damaged, it's best to replace the bakeware.
You can bake a cake in any pan, even a cast-iron skillet. Still, I prefer to bake cakes in pans made of anodized aluminum.
Stainless steel is easier to clean, but it doesn't conduct heat as well as aluminum, which is why we generally bake in aluminum pans. On the other hand, natural uncoated aluminum is reactive and can interact with certain ingredients, imparting a metallic taste to baked goods. For example, if you are baking lemon bars with an acidic lemon filling, or rhubarb baked goods where rhubarb may come in contact with the metal, you don't want to use uncoated aluminum. This is where aluminized steel may be interesting if you want a good heat conductor, or anodized aluminum if you want to reduce browning.
Do you preheat the oven with the baking pan inside?
The first step of most recipes is to preheat the oven to the desired baking temperature suggested by the recipe. When you preheat the oven, the goal is to warm the oven up to the temperature you want to bake at. During the preheating phase, the heating elements are working hard to heat up the oven, meaning that they are giving off a ton of heat, more so than the elements give off later to maintain that temperature. This is the reason why you should give your oven plenty of time to preheat, before you begin baking. You want to avoid exposing your baked goods to that blast of heat from the heating elements, which is unpredictable at best.
For some recipes, you may preheat the oven with the baking pan INSIDE the oven. Popovers, Yorkshire puddings, and Dutch baby pancake recipes tell you to preheat the oven with the pan inside because these recipes need to be baked in a hot pan. The heat of the pan is what gives the batters a burst of energy to puff and rise up.
For other recipes, cakes, cookies, bundts, etc., use baking pans at room temperature. Don't use a hot pan or a preheated pan in the oven unless the recipe specifies this! Placing cookies on a hot pan can cause them to spread out thinner than usual.
Shallow vs deep baking pans
When filling pans with cake or muffin batter, follow a few rules to ensure your baked goods bake properly in a reasonable amount of time.
- Don't overfill the pan. Leave at least an inch between the surface of the batter and the top of the cake pan. For muffins, as a rule, fill the cups ¾ full, otherwise, the cake may overflow as it bakes. Also you may have a hard time baking the middle of the cake properly, and then your cake may collapse! Sometimes, the trick for jumbo muffins is to overfill the muffin cups, and the consequences are obvious: the muffin may overflow and stick to the edges of the muffin pan, and they may take much longer to bake.
- For layer cakes, split the batter between two or three cake pans rather than baking one very tall cake that you split into layers after. I have some 3-inch deep professional cake pans, but cakes baked in this pan take FOREVER to bake properly, and you may have trouble judging if your cake is done baking. For 3-layer cakes, I prefer to split the batter between three identical cake pans, rather than baking one cake that I split into three layers.
I recommend investing in the complete baking conversion charts bundle to get conversion charts for ingredients, pans, temperatures, volumes, weights, and more.
Why do baking pans warp or bend in the oven?
Sometimes you will hear a bang coming from the oven. It's the loud sound of a sheet pan suddenly bending or warping from the heat of the oven. This happens when pans have thinner construction and are more prone to bending with temperature changes. Usually, higher-quality pans won't do this, which is why it's important to invest in good brands that make thicker, higher-quality pans. Wilton and Nordic Ware, for example, make heavy-duty, durable pans.
Why do baking pans rust?
If your pans are supposedly stainless steel, remember that stainless steel is an alloy made from several types of metal combined into one. Not all stainless steels are equal; some are more durable and rust-proof (stainless) than others. I've noticed with very cheap metal bakeware, for example, the stainless may rust and with whisks, for example, they can even impart a metallic flavour into cooked custards and curds that are whisked on the stove. It's really bad when this happens.
Older pans may be made of iron and the metal may be prone to rust when in contact with water and air. It's not ideal to bake anything in a rusted pan because that metal rust may leach into your food.
Cast iron pans can rust if left exposed to moisture for long periods. For this reason, it's important to dry pans thoroughly. I even bake the washed pan in the oven to ensure all the water evaporates completely, so the pan is completely dry before I put it away.
How to prevent it
When you wash metal bakeware, dry it immediately and thoroughly with a towel to prevent water from damaging your pans.
Why do glass pans explode?
Glass bakeware is made to be baked with and is shatterproof, but some bakers have experienced a glass pan shattering or exploding. This happens when the glass is damaged and then undergoes an extreme temperature change, from cold to hot or hot to cold. This is called thermal shock. Be sure to inspect any glass bakeware you use for defects or damage you can see. This way, you're less likely to run into problems down the road.
Best practices for cleaning bakeware
There's a reason why almost all of the recipes on this website start with a variation of "line the pan with parchment paper." I loathe washing my bakeware, and taking the time to carefully prepare a pan for baking saves me a ton of time in the long run. Soaking the pan in hot soapy water for 5 minutes usually lifts any stuck-on food, just like with most cookware. Avoid using any scrubbing brushes that are too rough on baking pans, especially if they have a coating or finish on them, which you could damage with excessive scrubbing.
Need More Help With Cake Pans?
Most of us aren't born with the natural ability to guess the exact size of any cake pan. If you would like to learn more about converting recipes from one pan type to another, you need the Baking Pan conversions chart.
Pan conversions chart
Use this baking pan size conversion chart to help you swap cake pans in a recipe. Learn how to find out which pans are equivalent and how to convert from one cake pan size to another.
Julie says
Thank you Janice for sharing your knowledge with the world. I want to bake in my stainless steel round pan because my husband used up the only aluminium round pan we have to bake a pot pie! And we have guests coming for dinner! I will let y’all know how it goes!
Kate Stokes says
Hi,
Do you need to reduce the temperature if your tin is fairly heavy ?
I would also appreciate your advice about my gem irons. Our house burnt down in the Black Saturday bushfires and we weren’t allowed to return for a few months. By then my gem irons were completely rusted. I’ve tried several things with no success. Would the heat have changed the cast iron ? It certainly melted aluminium !
Regards Kate.
Josie says
what about tin-lined baking pans from France?
Md.Moynul Islam says
Thanks for sharing a nice post.
Keith Peterson says
Excellent post, Janice! Explaining the "why's" really helps people make informed decisions. If I may comment on cake pans, also on Amazon is Crown Bakeware, made there in Canada. I donated all of my Chinese bakeware and bought these. I was able to lessen the baking time with a 3" depth with these and using one baking rod. Nice flat cakes, no cracks or domes.
I really enjoy reading about the science of baking, never boring and always informative. Thank you again!
Andrea says
Thank you for explaining the whys and why nots of each type of pan. You don’t just give your opinion, you explain the science behind it and that makes sense to me. I’ve been wanting to take a baking class and I think I just found one - The Bake School! Thank you so much.