The type of pan affects baking quality. Let’s discuss why this is important today. I have written about how the type of pans can affect the outcome of the bake, but wanted to do a more thorough side by side comparison for you all. When making some citrus madeira cakes the other day to use up eggs, I decided it was a good day to experiment. Read on to see how I set it up and the results.
To illustrate, I chose a light colored, dark non-stick and a glass loaf baking pan. All three of these are 9×5 (23x13cm) loaf pans according to the manufacturer. However, there were some slight variations in size. I decided to line them all with parchment instead of greasing and flouring to rule out any variable. I weighed out the batter in equal amounts in grams, baked at the same temperature 350F (180C) and aimed for 55 minutes baking time.
Dark, Light and Glass Pans 
Pour equal portions into each pan. 
Bake and compare! 
The glass one is the prettiest. It took longer to bake by 10 minutes. 
The dark one was done 5 minutes early. 
This one took 55 minutes and looks lovely. 
Can you tell which pan was used just looking at the top? 
What about when you look the sides? 
Here’s a hint! 
Clean up wasn’t too bad. Ironically, the non stick pan stuck the most. 
Sliced up, can you see which one is which? 
Happy Baking!
As you can see, each pan did very well. Not only did the darker pan cooked the fastest, but the crust was the deepest golden brown. The cake was also the shortest and the crumb was closer together. Comparatively, the glass one took the longest and the cracks on top are the prettiest. There were some pockets of air not found in the other cakes. Finally, the lightest color pan baked a nice, solid cake. Not too light, not to dark. The bake and crumb was also the most even. The one serious advantage of the metal over glass is not having to worry about thermal shock. The advantage of glass over metal is the presentation. The glass baked cake was simply the prettiest.
So now you see it first hand. The type of pan affects baking quality. But how does this apply to you and baking? Simple. When using a new recipe online, look or ask what type of pans they are using for the bake. If they are using a light pan and yours is darker, start watch your cake about 10 minutes before the recipe time. It could mean the difference between a lovely moist cake and an overly dry dessert.
Here is a brief video that will go into more detail on the subject. I baked a basic shortbread cookie so you could see the difference easily.
Hi – just a question in the cookie video is the first dark baking tin used aluminium with dark non stick coating or carbon steel with non-stick? also what is the gauge or thickness of each metal pan? Kind regards, Maria
Hi, Maria. Sorry for the delay in a response, but I wanted to double check the thickness before I commented. Each of the metal pans are all 18 gauge or 1.2 mm. Not the heaviest of quality, nor the cheapest. About what the average baker would find at a local store. The first dark baking tin is listed as “18mm steel with nonstick gray finish” on the company website. The light pan with the lip is aluminum and the last not so nice pan is non-stick aluminum pan. The company of the last pan has since switched over to using steel. The old glass dish is nearly 8mm thick. Hope this answers your questions. If not, let me know and I’ll follow up. Have a great day!
Hi! I’m going to be making that chocolate cake with cinnamon and I came to check out this post about the pans. I’ll be making the sugar cookie next, is bet the pan makes a difference there too. I have several cookie sheets and no two alike! LOL
Good luck with the chocolate cinnamon cake.
Tomorrow I’m posting up a video at noon on this very subject if you want to see it first hand. I made sugar cookies without baking soda so they would keep their shape and be easier to compare. You will get to see what baking soda/powder does in a cookie as well as pan colors affecting cookies/cakes/etc. I was very surprised about the aluminum pan.