Cake tins these days are a little more high tech than the original types made in one piece from stainless steel. These types are still made, are cheap to buy, and will do the job. However, there have been some innovations that make life easier.
There are now coatings for cake tins that help to prevent sticking, and so make it easier to turn out the cake once baked. Most coatings are a kind of silicone like Teflon, which is bonded on to the surface, and do a good job, at least to begin with. In time they do wear away so some manufacturers have resorted to using a double layer of coating to overcome this problem, and will guarantee the surface stays non-stick for several years.
The other way of making the surface of it less adherent and easier to clean, is by anodising them. This is an electrolytic process that deposits a hard layer of aluminium oxide on to the surface when used on aluminium caketins.
Aluminium is a good conductor of heat and is used in many good quality cooking utensils, including this tin. The anodised layer provides wear and corrosion resistance, as well as making the surface less sticky.
The latest innovation in it seems to be the introduction of moulds made from silicon. They are naturally non-stick, and flexible enough to be stretched to ease out the contents.
It can be easily categorised by shape, the common ones being circular or rectangular. Circular cake tins are very useful and versatile, suitable for most kinds of cake, and are rightly popular. You can obtain shallow ones for sponges, or deep ones for traditional cakes like Christmas cakes which need room to rise during baking.
Most round cake tins these days have a removable base, and some have a spring-form device which is a tensioned clip keeping the wall tightly against the base, but, easily released to drop the base away.
Rectangular cake tins can be large shallow trays for baking a number of small cakes together, or can be obtained in various sizes to suit. A clever invention was the Multisize bake tin which allows for different size square or rectangular cakes to be made using a single, adjustable tray.
Loaf cake tins are a type of deep rectangular bake tin for traditional kinds of cakes such as lemon drizzle, banana, or fruit cakes. They can of course, also be used to make meat loaf, or a vegetarian nut loaf. Loaf cake tins are preferred by many professional bakers as they fit more easily in the oven.
It is worth spending a little more for a good quality cake tin if you are going to bake regularly. Modern cake tins are easy to buy online, are durable, and are better than ever in terms of convenience. A home baked cake is so much better than most shop bought ones that it is worth baking your own!
There are now coatings for cake tins that help to prevent sticking, and so make it easier to turn out the cake once baked. Most coatings are a kind of silicone like Teflon, which is bonded on to the surface, and do a good job, at least to begin with. In time they do wear away so some manufacturers have resorted to using a double layer of coating to overcome this problem, and will guarantee the surface stays non-stick for several years.
The other way of making the surface of it less adherent and easier to clean, is by anodising them. This is an electrolytic process that deposits a hard layer of aluminium oxide on to the surface when used on aluminium caketins.
Aluminium is a good conductor of heat and is used in many good quality cooking utensils, including this tin. The anodised layer provides wear and corrosion resistance, as well as making the surface less sticky.
The latest innovation in it seems to be the introduction of moulds made from silicon. They are naturally non-stick, and flexible enough to be stretched to ease out the contents.
It can be easily categorised by shape, the common ones being circular or rectangular. Circular cake tins are very useful and versatile, suitable for most kinds of cake, and are rightly popular. You can obtain shallow ones for sponges, or deep ones for traditional cakes like Christmas cakes which need room to rise during baking.
Most round cake tins these days have a removable base, and some have a spring-form device which is a tensioned clip keeping the wall tightly against the base, but, easily released to drop the base away.
Rectangular cake tins can be large shallow trays for baking a number of small cakes together, or can be obtained in various sizes to suit. A clever invention was the Multisize bake tin which allows for different size square or rectangular cakes to be made using a single, adjustable tray.
Loaf cake tins are a type of deep rectangular bake tin for traditional kinds of cakes such as lemon drizzle, banana, or fruit cakes. They can of course, also be used to make meat loaf, or a vegetarian nut loaf. Loaf cake tins are preferred by many professional bakers as they fit more easily in the oven.
It is worth spending a little more for a good quality cake tin if you are going to bake regularly. Modern cake tins are easy to buy online, are durable, and are better than ever in terms of convenience. A home baked cake is so much better than most shop bought ones that it is worth baking your own!
SHARE
