I Asked 4 Bakers To Name the Best Cake Pans—They All Said the Same Brand

You head to the store to thoughtfully pick out the ingredients you need for a cake. You preheat the oven and meticulously weigh the ingredients. After a flurry of sifting, beating, and folding your cake batter is ready for the oven. You scrape it into a pan and set it in the oven to rise to great heights, then congratulate yourself on a job well done. 

Except, the hard part hasn’t even started. After letting the cake cool, you invert it onto a rack only to find that your masterpiece has other plans.

Defying the laws of gravity, your once-perfect cake is stuck squarely to the bottom of the pan. After a bit of troubleshooting, some tears, and a few choice words, the cake is mostly out of the pan. The dream of a beautifully stacked layer cake is quickly dashed. 

Sound familiar? Sadly, this scenario happens to the best of us. After one too many cake fails, I decided to reach out to the baking experts for their go-to cake pans.

The Baking Experts I Asked

• Erin Clarkson: The genius behind the baking blog Cloudy Kitchen, where she shares reliable, dependable, heavily tested, and downright delicious recipes. Her One Bowl Gingerbread Cake is my kids' very favorite!
• Laura Kasavan: As the founder of Tutti Dolci, a baking blog, Laura develops recipes for classic desserts with her special spin. Once you stock up on new pans, I strongly suggest giving them a spin with her Blueberry Crumb Cake—so good!
• Sally Mckenney: When I am looking for a rock-solid dessert recipe, one of the first places I check is Sally’s Baking Addiction. With over 888 thousand followers on Instagram, I’m not the only one who can’t get enough of her amazing treats. If you’ve ever been to a birthday party I’ve hosted for one of my kids, you’ve certainly tasted her fail-proof (and incredibly delicious) Very Vanilla Cupcakes.
• Myo Quinn: Associate Editorial Director of Simply Recipes and Gramercy Tavern alum.

The Best Cake Pan According to Expert Bakers and Recipe Developers

According to the experts, the best cake pan is USA PAN.

Several factors are paramount to all of the bakers I spoke to when it comes to choosing a high-quality cake pan: even heat distribution, nonstick properties, and durability. What makes the cake pans made by USA PAN stand out among baking experts? The patented fluted bottom aids in circulating air while cakes are baked, leading to more consistent results.

The pan is made from nearly indestructible aluminized steel, which is coated with an FDA-approved proprietary silicone coating. The TLDR? Nothing will stick!

Myo says, “They’re sturdy and will never warp in a hot oven. They’re light-colored, so they won’t absorb and retain as much heat (as dark-colored cake pans), which means the baked goods won’t brown as quickly. The sides are straight, and the corners are sharp, which means every dessert that comes out of these pans has picture-perfect sides and corners. I own cake pans in every shape and size imaginable, and they’re all USA PANs. I will never buy another brand.”

Erin agrees, “Almost every pan I use is made by USA PAN. Their cake pans are super non-stick and have a really nice sharp corner and edge.” An added bonus? These gorgeous pans show up a lot in Erin’s stunning food photography, and they are just as picture-perfect as her baked goods.

Sally points out the quality is hard to beat for the price. “I love and use a lot of pans by USA PAN, because I have found that they are great quality for a good price. Its nine-inch square pan is fantastic; I use it often for bars like brownies, no-bake bars, and small single-layer cakes. The pans have also held up well over the years, which is saying something considering I most likely give them more of a workout than the average home baker!”

Now, let's talk about cleaning. Nothing is more demoralizing after a cake failure than having to scrape your hopes and dreams off the bottom of your subpar baking vessel. Laura loves how easily the USA PAN washes up, which is important when you do a ton of baking like she does!

She says, “Whenever I'm baking a cake, I reach for USA PAN cake pans. Made with aluminized steel, the pans are incredibly durable and conduct heat evenly for uniform browning and baking. As an added bonus, the nonstick coating makes clean-up a breeze!”

If I could go back in time and register for these when I got married, I would do so in a heartbeat. However, as luck has it, I just celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary, which happens to be the year for “aluminum.” I just purchased a set for myself and let my husband know he could thank me later. Who says romance is dead?

Get the Best Cake Pans: USA PAN Cake Pans

_{To learn more about our approach to product recommendations, see HERE.}