Standard Baking Pans

Standard baking pans are 8 inch and 9 inch round pans. They usually come in sets of two to make a 2 layer cake. If you use cake mixes, most cake mixes are meant to make two 8 or 9 inch layers.

Loaf Pans

Loaf pans are rectangular pans that are deeper than standard cake pans. They are designed to bake loaves of bread and bread-like cakes. They?re usually not the best choice for baking a regular cake recipe because their depth means that the outside of the cake bakes before the middle, making it dry and crusty. One of niftiest new versions of the loaf pan is a pan that bakes your banana bread or cranberry nut bread already sliced!

Bundt Cake Pans

Bundt pans are also called ?ring pans?. They are one piece pans with a spindle or pillar in the middle, designed to cook heavy cake batters through without burning the outsides. Bundt pans are ideal for coffee cakes, fruit cakes and other thick batters that don?t cook well in flat pans.

Brownie Pans

Brownie pans are generally flat square or rectangular pans that make it easy to cut brownies into squares. Brownie pans are also ideal for cookie squares. There are two new styles of brownie pans that make brownies even better and easier. One is similar to the self-slicing loaf pans, you pour the brownie batter into the pan and then press an insert into place. The brownies come out of the oven already cut in neat, even squares. The other is an S-shaped brownie pan that has interior sidewalls so that every single brownie has at least two chewy brownie edges.

Baba Pans

Also known as ?Section Pans? these nifty pans are designed to bake edible ?bowls? similar to strawberry shortcakes. They?re perfect for nearly any kind of cake recipe, but are especially nice with sponge cake, which bakes up light and airy, and soaks up the juices of berries and other fillings you might add after baking.

Springform Cake Pans

Springform cake pans are two piece pans that consist of a bottom and a side piece. The side piece is designed to fit tightly around the edge of the bottom piece. A latch loosens the side and allows it to be easily removed from the bottom so that the cake can be served with the bottom serving as a platter. Cheesecake is most commonly cooked in a springform pan, as are tortes and other recipes that are not quite firm enough to be tipped out of a cake pan onto a plate.

Novelty Cake Pans

How do you make a cake shaped like a bunny? Or one in the shape of a number 5? With a novelty cake pan of course. Bunny cake pans, train cake pans and cake pans in the shape of popular cartoon characters are just some of the novelty cake pans that are available on the market. One general rule of thumb is that tall novelty cakes like beehives and standing bunny rabbits should be made with a firm cake mix like a Lady Baltimore cake.

Specialty Cake Pans

Some cake pans have been designed specifically to cook different kinds of batters. The shape makes a difference in the texture and flavor. These are some of the best known specialty cake pans:

Scone pans are designed to bake the heavy, crumbly scones that are so popular in Europe for breakfast. Each cake pan is divided into wedges so that each scone is cooked individually.

Cornbread pans are made of heavy cast metal and are designed to make cornbread in the shape of ears of corn. The unique shape makes toasty, crisp cornbread sticks that soak up butter deliciously.

3 Tier Cake Pans

Tiered cakes are especially popular for Sweet 16 parties and girls? birthday parties. You can put together your own sets of tiered cake pans, but it?s much easier to buy a set of 3 tier cake pans which are perfectly sized for one cake mix.

Choosing the right baking pan for your recipe is an important part of baking tasty treats that are the best that they can be. While many of these cake pans can be substituted for others, be sure that you choose a cake pan similar to the one called for in the recipe for best results.

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Get to know your sugar substitutes.

Use Splenda Granulated for desserts and baked goods that rely on sugar mainly for taste and sweetness. It?s ideal for use in puddings, custards, ice cream and even cheesecake. Splenda Granulated is also the sugar-free sweetener of choice for quick breads, muffins, cookies and pies.

Things to Know About Baking with Splenda

Splenda Granulated is designed to measure and pour like sugar. One cup of Splenda has the same sweetening power of one cup of sugar.

Splenda can be used in microwave cooking and baking without losing its sweetness, as well as in high altitude baking.

Splenda Blend is the ideal sugar substitute in baked goods like brownies, candies and layer cakes. Because it contains only a small amount of sugar, it gives the volume, browning, moisture and texture that you expect in those recipes. To substitute Splenda Blend for sugar in your recipes, use ? cup of Blend for every cup of sugar.

Other Sugar Free Baking Tips

Baking with sugar substitutes isn?t exactly like baking with regular sugar. Because sugar does more than just sweeten your baked goods, you may need to make a few other changes in your recipes in order to get the best results.

-???????? To get the height you expect in layer cakes and quick breads, try baking in 8? cake pans instead of 9? cake pans.

-???????? For a better rise, try adding ? cup nonfat dry milk powder and ? teaspoon of baking soda for every cup of sugar substitute when baking layer cakes.

-???????? If you?re making custard sauce, pudding or cookies, add an extra teaspoon of vanilla to the recipe to intensify the sweetness.

-???????? Keep in mind that yeast recipes need real sugar in order to activate the yeast. If you?re making yeast-raised breads or other goodies that rely on yeast, keep at least two tablespoons of sugar in your recipe to activate the yeast.

-???????? If a pale cake won?t do the trick for you, try spraying the surface of your cake with cooking spray just before baking. Sugar substitutes don?t caramelize like sugar, so you won?t get browning unless you take other steps to get that lovely baked look to your breads, cakes and cookies.

-???????? Recipes made with sugar substitutes tend to bake faster than those made with sugar. If you?re baking with a sugar substitute, check on your baked goods a few minutes before the recipe calls for to make sure that they don?t overcook. Your cakes may be done up to ten minutes sooner than you expect, and cookies or brownies could be finished up to seven minutes early.

-???????? Try adding some additional sweetness by using fruit puree to replace some of the shortening or moisture in fruit breads and muffins.

Baking with sugar substitutes does take a little bit of practice to get consistent and reliable results. However, the same could be said about baking with regular sugar. Once you start baking without sugar on a regular basis you may actually find that you like the flavor and the results of your food much better than sweet baked goods made with sugar.

Expert: Richard Buccola
Bio: Richard …