9 Types of Baking Pots to Match Your Baking Needs
Have you ever done some baking and been disappointed because the cake didn't rise, or didn't cook properly on the inside? For baked goods to come out well, you need to follow the recipe and you need the right kind of baking pots or baking pans.
Here are some of the most common baking pots used in baking.
1 - Sheet Pan
A sheet pan is a flat baking sheet with a shallow, upturned rim to prevent items from sliding off.
They are a workhorse for anyone who loves to bake. You can use them for almost all your baking needs; from rolls, to potatoes to cookies- as long as the ingredients don't produce fluids that can overflow the sheet.
The most standard size is the half sheet pan which measures 12" by 16", but you can get smaller sizes for small ovens.
2 - Bread Loaf Pan
This is one of the most common baking pots in kitchens. It is deep to allow for the baked goods to rise. It can be used for both sweet dishes like cake and bread and also for savory dishes like meatloaf. It has great heat conduction which allows you to bake at low temperatures for the best results.
3 - Bundt Pan
The Bundt pan is one of the more unusual-looking baking pots. It is heavy-walled and has curved sides with a regular wavy pattern. The inside surface of the pan rises to form a hollow tube in the center.
The heavy build of the pan allows cakes to bake and rise uniformly. The hollow tube at the center and the fluted sides allow you to bake hollow, patterned cakes with ease. The pan conducts heat effectively due to the heavy construction of the walls.
Bundt pans are ideal for aesthetic cakes like coffee and sweet cakes that don't need further decoration. After baking is done, the pan is simply turned over and the well-shaped cake falls onto the plate.
4 - The Tube Pan
Also called an angel cake pan, this pan resembles a Bundt pan as it also has a hollow tube at the center. Unlike the Bundt pan, however, tube pans have plain straight sides and are lightweight. They're used mostly for light, airy cakes such as angel food cakes and chiffon.
Airy cakes usually have to be cooled upside down. To enable this, most tube pans have feet at the top of the pan. This allows you to turn the pan upside down to cool the cake but still keep it off the counter.
5 - The Muffin Pan
This is a type of baking pan used to make muffins or cupcakes. So it's also called a cupcake tray.
You can also use this for other baking recipes provided you reduce the baking time. Muffin pans usually have 6 to 12 round cups or pockets hollowed out of the pan, though you can also have a pan with as many as 35 cups. The muffins or cupcakes take the form of pockets.
Muffin pans come in sizes ranging from 1 inch in diameter for small muffins to about 4 inches in diameter for large muffins.
Muffin baking pots can be made of aluminum, cast iron, silicone, or stainless steel. Cleaning the pan can get difficult at times, so it's advisable to line the pockets using muffin or cupcake cups, or grease the pan, to prevent sticking. Some stainless steel and aluminum pans have non-stick coatings such as Teflon to prevent sticking.
6 - The 9 Inch Round Cake Pan
Like the sheet pan, this is one of the most popular baking pots in many kitchens. Round cake pans actually come in many sizes, but the most common are the 8 and 9-inch pans.
Having a number of round cake pans is useful as it will enable you to cook layered cakes faster. You can also have a set of round pans of different sizes to enable you to make a many-tiered cake easily and quickly. The round shape of the pan is ideal for spreading the cake batter evenly and ensuring that it also cooks evenly.
7 - The 9 by 13 Inch Baking Pan
The 9 by 13-inch pan is one of the most ideal types of baking pots. It's a multi-purpose baking pan that can be used for baking cakes and even roasting chicken and other savory dishes.
It looks like a typical baking sheet, but with higher sides.
8 - The Pie Plate
The pie plate is a round, shallow dish with slanted sides. It's used for baking pies, but it can also be used for loaf cakes and brownies. Although pie plates come in different sizes, the most common sizes are 8, 9, and 10 inches in diameter.
Pie plates usually have shallow sides measuring between 1 to 1 ½ inches deep. However, some deep pie plates measure 2 to 2 ½ inches deep and are also wider in diameter. Deep pie plates can be used to bake savory dishes.
Pie plates come in all sorts of materials- glass, aluminum, ceramic, stoneware, and tinned steel.
9 - The Springform Pan
Some cakes are just too delicate to be turned over and dumped on a plate when ready. You can't afford to make a mistake moving them in case they get messed up even before they leave the kitchen. The best baking tin to use for such cakes is the springform pan.
This is a round pan made in two detachable parts: A base and a straight removable ring which acts as the sides of the pan. When the cake has cooled down, the ring is unclasped and removed carefully, leaving the cake intact on the base. This eliminates the risk of ruining the cake while transferring it from the pan to a plate for serving.
The pan is ideal for dishes that are difficult to remove from the pan without ruining them, like cheesecakes and tortes. It can also be used for normal cakes.
Final Words
If you're passionate about baking, build up your collection of baking pots little by little, so you'll always have the right equipment for each recipe.
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