Whether you’re constantly cooking tasty treats or you only bake occasionally, a good quality cake tin is a kitchen essential. They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but are endlessly versatile – they can be used to bake cakes (of course), as well as sweet and savoury breads, cheesecakes or even used as moulds.

Baking is a real science. If you have a good recipe, follow it to the letter, including using the correct tin, and success is guaranteed. Read our guide to successful cakes for some tips to help you master the essentials. Then hop over to our guide to classic cakes for a fantastic breakdown of how to bake the perfect traditional Victoria sponge, lemon drizzle cake and much more.

As well as cake tins, you’ll need a couple of extra pieces of kit to get you going. Although not an essential, a stand mixer really will make mixing, whipping and folding a lot easier. If you're a traditionalist or short on space, a hand mixer is a great alternative. To ensure absolute precision you’ll need measuring spoons and kitchen scales. You’ll also need a mixing bowl and spatula to get every last drop of cake batter into your tin – no wastage here!

Best cake tins at a glance

Loaf tins

  • Best loaf tin: KitchenAid non-stick loaf tin, £17.56
  • Best enamel loaf tin: Falcon loaf tin, £32.50
  • Best budget loaf tin: Circulon Momentum loaf tin, £12.99
  • Best glass loaf tin: Pyrex Bake and Enjoy glass loaf tin, £11.69

Bundt tins

  • Best enamel bundt tin: Falcon decorative cake tin, £34
  • Best bundt tin: Nordic Ware Bavaria bundt tin, £46.40
  • Best swirled bundt tin: Nordic Ware Heritage bundt tin, £52
  • Best budget bundt tin: MasterClass fluted cake tin, £15

Springform cake tins

  • Best non-stick springform cake tin: Pyrex Magic springform cake tin, £9.95
  • Best springform tin available in different sizes: Masterclass springform cake tin, from £13.18

Circular cake tins

  • Best enamel cake tin: Falcon cake tin, £22
  • Best 20cm cake tin: Pyrex Magic cake tin, £9.98
  • Best cake tin for tall sides: MasterClass 20cm cake tin, £12.99

Square cake tins

  • Best enamel square cake tin: Falcon square bake tray, £31.50
  • Best tin for square cakes and brownies: Lakeland deep square loose-based non-stick cake tin, £12.99

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Best cake tins to buy in 2025

Best loaf tins to buy in 2025

KitchenAid non-stick loaf tin

KITCHENAID £14.00 49.60cm Loaf Tin www.argos.co.uk

Best loaf tin

Star rating: 5/5

KitchenAid are well-known for their iconic and colourful stand mixers, so it's no real surprise the brand have branched out to bakeware. The long, thin design of this tin caught our eye. It produces professional-quality results with clean, smooth, straight edges.

It's robust, has thick walls and doesn’t warp or pop in the oven. Our bake came out of the tin smoothly and, unlike most of our loaf cakes, there wasn’t a crack running down the middle – we suspect this is down to the shape of the tin. It's dishwasher-safe, too.

Falcon loaf tin

Available from Season Cookshop (£30.99), Falcon (£32.50)

Falcon loaftin

Best enamel loaf tin

Star rating: 5/5

This sturdy enamel loaf tin from Falcon is instantly recognisable, and available in a classic white and blue-rimmed finish as well as pillarbox red or pigeon grey. It’s generously sized, with a capacity of around 3lb, making it a great choice for larger loaf cakes or breads.

There’s a subtle lip on the underside that provides just enough grip to make removing it from a hot oven feel safe and steady, despite the absence of handles. The tin is solid and stood up well during testing. Our loaf cake released easily with no sticking or tearing and the enamel surface wiped clean with minimal effort.

We also appreciated the fully recyclable packaging – a thoughtful touch. While this tin isn’t non-stick in the traditional sense, its smooth enamel coating still delivered a neat, well-risen bake with a golden finish.

Available from:

Circulon Momentum loaf tin

Circulon Loaf Tin

Best budget loaf tin

Star rating: 5/5

Featuring Circulon’s tell-tale circular design on the bottom, this loaf tin is squat and wide with large handles on the short sides for easy removal from the oven.

Although the walls feel quite thin, this tin is sturdy. The loaf cake we baked came out with ease, nicely risen and golden. We did notice some sinkage in the centre of the cake, but it was minimal. This tin is also dishwasher-safe and comes at a reasonable price.

Pyrex Bake and Enjoy glass loaf tin

Pyrex Glass Loaf Tin

Best glass loaf tin

Star rating: 4.5/5

From well-known bakeware brand Pyrex comes this glass loaf tin. Shape-wise, it’s not dissimilar to the KitchenAid model as it’s long and thin, producing professional-looking results. It only features two small lips on the short sides of the tin, so removing it from the oven isn’t the easiest.

We’d have liked to see Pyrex offer a little more information on baking in glass, as it cooks differently to metal. We followed our lemon drizzle cake recipe, baking it for the stated time, but the cake was still a little undercooked. Baking for 10 minutes longer helped us to achieve the results we were looking for. After baking, the cake had risen evenly was easy to remove from the tin.

Best bundt tins to buy in 2025

Falcon decorative cake tin

Available from Falcon (£34)

Best enamel bundt tin

Falcon decorative cake tin

Star rating: 5/5

Falcon’s decorative cake tin is a take on a classic bundt pan, with fluted sides and a rounded form that gives bakes an elegant, old-school finish. At 27cm across and 8cm deep, it’s generously sized and suitable for cakes, jellies or even a festive nut roast.

Made from heavyweight steel with a smooth enamel coating, it feels solid and well made. There was a brief moment of sticking during removal, but a firm tap on the base and a gentle shake saw the cake release cleanly, with the pattern clearly defined and intact. As with the rest of Falcon’s enamelware, it cleaned up easily and all the packaging is fully recyclable.

While it lacks the non-stick assurance of some other bundt pans, the enamel coating performed well with a properly greased tin. The result was a well-risen, evenly browned cake that needed little extra decoration.

Available from:

Nordic Ware Bavaria bundt tin

NORDIC WARE £52.00 Bavaria Platinum Bundt Pan_1 www.divertimenti.co.uk

Best bundt tin

Star rating: 4.5/5

This bundt tin from Nordic Ware features a unique pleated design that produces modern-looking cakes with minimal decoration, or you can add drizzles and icing to jazz it up. Made from cast aluminium, this pan is weighty and incredibly sturdy. We’d have liked to have seen a little advice from Nordic Ware on how to best prepare the pan, but found that a generous layer of butter and tapping it on the counter when full helped to achieve a clean release and a well-defined pattern.

Our bundt cake was well cooked and evenly browned all over. This pan isn’t dishwasher-safe, so it does require some attentive cleaning to get into all the nooks and crannies.

Nordic Ware Heritage bundt tin

nordicware-182922b

Best swirled bundt tin

Nordic Ware's sturdy tins come in a variety of beautiful shapes, creating architectural cakes that require no additional decoration for that wow factor. We love this 2.4-litre classic design. The non-stick finish ensures the shape holds perfectly on release. Available in 2.4 litres and 1.4 litres in different designs.

MasterClass fluted cake tin

MASTERCLASS BUNDT KCMCHB18

Best budget bundt tin

Star rating: 4.5/5

Although this Masterclass bundt tin doesn’t achieve as defined results as the two Nordic Ware tins above, the cake it produced was no less impressive. It comes at a fraction of the price of the others and produces bakes with a subtle ridged design.

It’s a lot thinner than the Nordic Ware tins, but still bakes exceptionally well. We removed our cake with absolute ease and nothing stuck to the pan. It was evenly baked and moist and fluffy on the inside.

Best springform cake tins to buy in 2025

Pyrex Magic springform cake tin

Pyrex Magic Springform Cake Tin

Best non-stick springform cake tin

Star rating: 5/5

This Pyrex springform cake tin has an impressive non-stick coating – nothing sticks to it. The clasp is easy to secure and release, though we did notice the tin popped open quite forcefully when undone, implying the seal was very tight. On the plus side, this tight seal did stop any raw cake batter seeping through the gaps.

Our cake was well risen and evenly baked, though there was a crack in the centre. Despite this, the cake was spongy and moist. The tin is dishwasher safe and was the easiest to use and cook with.

MasterClass springform cake tin

MASTERCLASS SPRINGFORM KCMCHB19

Best springform tin available in different sizes

Star rating: 5/5

MasterClass’s springform cake tin is available in six sizes: 15cm, 18cm, 20cm, 23cm, 25cm and 30cm. Ideal if the recipe you’re using is calling for an obscure size or you just want a range of sizes on hand. Plus, all these tins are dishwasher-safe.

This pan produced a super moist cake that was well risen and evenly baked. Usefully, the size of the pan is embossed onto the tin too. The mechanism is straightforward to secure and undo, it’s also ergonomically shaped for added ease of use.

Best circular cake tins to buy in 2025

Falcon cake tin

Available from Falcon (£22)

Falcon cake tin

Best enamel cake tin

Star rating: 5/5

This enamel cake tin from Falcon measures 22cm in diameter and 4cm deep, making it a good option for sponge cakes, single-layer bakes or sandwich cakes. There’s a small lip around the edge, offering a bit of grip when lifting it in and out of the oven.

Although it doesn’t have a loose base, our cake released cleanly, with no sticking or tearing, helped along by the smooth enamel surface. The sponge was evenly baked with a gentle rise and golden edges. As with the rest of the Falcon range, the tin feels reassuringly sturdy thanks to its heavyweight steel construction.

It cleaned up easily and comes in fully recyclable packaging – a thoughtful touch for eco-minded bakers. While the tin isn't traditionally non-stick, a thorough greasing proved more than sufficient.

Available from:

Pyrex Magic 20cm cake tin

Pyrex Magic Cake Tin

Best 20cm cake tin

Star rating: 5/5

Another from Pyrex’s Magic range, this 20cm cake tin is ideal for sandwich cakes. It features a small lip for easy removal from the oven and our cake released cleanly from the non-stick surface with ease. The cake itself was well risen and evenly baked. There were no rips or tears anywhere.

Although the pan is thin, it’s sturdy and robust. The tin is oven-safe to 230C and dishwasher-safe.

MasterClass deep 20cm cake tin

MASTERCLASS 20CM KCMCHB21

Best 20cm cake tin for tall sides

Star rating: 4.5/5

MasterClass’ 20cm tin is the deepest we’ve tested. Featuring high sides, it's ideal for taller cakes. If you’re into cakes with lots of layers, the pop-up base means you could use it as a mould to build a layer cake, then simply pop it out. The silicone seal is very secure, so you do need a bit of force to release it – just as we’d expect.

Although it was soft and moist inside, we did think the cake looked a little lopsided and wasn’t quite as dark in the centre as we’d have liked. We solved this by another five minutes in the oven. This tin is dishwasher-safe.

Best square cake tins to buy in 2025

Falcon square bake tray

Available from Falcon (£31.50)

Falcon square tin

Best enamel square cake tin

Star rating: 5/5

This square bake tray from Falcon measures 25cm across and is 6cm deep, offering a generous amount of space for brownies, traybakes or deeper bakes like focaccia. Made from heavyweight steel with a smooth enamel coating, it has a solid, practical feel that held up well in testing.

We baked a batch of brownies and found they released cleanly, despite the absence of a loose base. The enamel surface proved easy to clean and didn't leave any residue. A subtle lip on the underside provides a bit of grip when moving the tray in and out of the oven, and all packaging is fully recyclable.

Available in Falcon’s core colours, it’s a versatile piece that works just as well for serving as it does for baking.

Available from:

Lakeland 18cm deep square loose-based non-stick cake tin

lakeland-tin-7cb4068

Best tin for square cakes and brownies

A loose base really helps for ease of release, especially when you’re dealing with gooey brownies, and the non-stick surface on this tin made removing our best-ever brownies a doddle. We liked the weighty carbon steel structure – built to last yet still reasonably priced. Available in 18cm, 20cm, 23cm, 25cm and 30cm.

best-tins-montage-2903f41

How to choose the best cake tin

It seems obvious, but one of the first questions you need to ask yourself before you buy a cake tin is ‘what am I going to bake in it’? All of our cake recipes will outline the size and type of cake tin you need for the bake, so you’ll know exactly what you need to buy. Whilst we favour versatile tins, like loaf tins, springform cake tins and simple 20cm tins, we’re also big fans of those used to produce showstopping desserts, like bundts.

What can a cake tin be used for?

Like most bakeware, cake tins are pretty versatile. They come in a range of shapes and sizes, but we’ve picked our most popular five to focus on.

How we tested cake tins

We chose our most popular recipes to put these cake tins to the test. We tested a range of brands including high-end that focus solely on making cake tins, to budget-friendly offerings for those not looking to spend lots of money.

To test the loaf tins, we baked our lemon drizzle cake. For the bundt tins, we made Good Food’s banana and choc bundt cake with peanut caramel drizzle. In the springform cake tins, we made this and for the 20cm cake tins we baked our classic cappuccino cake. And what better recipe to try out a square cake tin than with our top-rated best ever chocolate brownies?

We reviewed a representative sample of cake tins of different shapes and sizes and scored them against the following criteria.

  • Practicality: we tested the tins we use most frequently in the Good Food kitchen, as well as showstopper tins for special occasions.
  • Sturdiness: we chose hardy and robust tins that could withstand frequent use.
  • Easy release: non-stick surfaces, springform release and loose bases were all given extra points.
  • Even cooking: tins that conducted heat effectively came top of our list.
  • Cleaning: tins with smooth curves, rather than sharp edges and folds, for ease of cleaning.

Cake essentials

Best cake storage tins
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Best serving dishes and platters
How to line different cake tins
Best icing turntables
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Best hand mixer
Best kitchen scales
Best mixing bowls
Best spatulas

Cake recipes

Best ever chocolate cakes
Our best Christmas cakes
Our most cheerful cakes
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Our best ever gluten-free Christmas cakes
Top 10 summer cake recipes
Best ever boozy cake recipes

Loaf tin recipes

Victoria sponge loaf cake
Snowy coconut loaf cake
Brilliant banana loaf
Marzipan chocolate loaf cake
Simnel loaf cake
Sticky banoffee loaf with toffee sauce

Bundt tin recipes

Banana & choc bundt cake with peanut caramel drizzle
Blood orange & olive oil bundt cake
Chocolate & almond marbled bundt cake
Soured cream bundt cake with butter glaze

20cm cake tin recipes

Chocolate marble cake
Pineapple upside-down cake
Raspberry Bakewell cake
Ultimate chocolate cake
Gluten-free lemon drizzle cake
Chocolate courgette cake
Classic Victoria sandwich
Cherry bakewell cake
Easy chocolate cake
Parsnip & maple syrup cake
Coffee & walnut cake
Cappuccino cake

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Square cake tin recipes

Yummy scrummy carrot cake
Best ever brownies
Lemon drizzle slices
Peanut butter brownies
Gingery plum cake

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