Essential bakeware for making desserts

Trying out a new recipe isn't as easy as mixing all the ingredients and popping them in the oven. You have to make sure you have the proper bakeware on hand. Here's a list of essential pieces for the home baker.

Cake pan:

• Basic for baking, these pans come in sizes to match the amounts of batter or dough in standard recipes.
• Made of aluminum, glass or steel, many have a nonstick finish inside.
• Round cake pans are usually 20 or 23 centimetres (eight or nine inches) in diameter.
• Square and rectangular pans are used for bar cookies and quick breads as well as cakes.

Springform pan:

• Used for making cakes that can't easily pop out of a regular cake pan, springform pans have a clasp that releases the sides from the base.
• They are usually made of tinned steel and come in many sizes.
• A classic cheesecake, for example, requires a springform pan.
• The cake often stays safely on the base even when it is moved to a serving platter.

Bundt cake pan:

• A circular cake pan with a hole in the middle, the bundt pan has fluted side walls that are traditional to the German bundt cake.
• These distinctive pans are available in aluminum or tinned steel.
• A nonstick coating inside is useful because the crevices of the fluting can cause the cake to stick and cleanup to be tricky.

Pie pan:

• Made of aluminum or ovenproof glass, a 20 or 23 centimetre (eight or nine inch) pie pan is essential for pie making.
• The 23 centimetre (nine inch) size is most often called for in recipes, so that should be your first purchase.
• The design of the pie pan — flat and shallow with short slanted sides — allows pie fillings to heat and set quickly.
• Tart and quiche pans have straight sides.

Baking sheet:

• Baking sheets come in several formats. Those with no sides are for baking cookies; short sides hold jelly roll cakes and other pastries.
• Flat cookie sheets sometimes have a special layer underneath designed to keep the bottoms of cookies from burning.
• Some baking sheets have nonstick coating inside.

Muffin pan:

• With indentations for anywhere from six to 24 muffins, these specialized baking pans are available in three muffin sizes — mini, regular and large.
• The best muffin pans are made of heavy tinned steel or heavy aluminum.
• A nonstick coating inside is a plus, insuring quick muffin removal and easy pan cleaning.
• If a pan doesn't have a non-stick coating, you can grease the indentations or use individual muffin papers.

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