I Tested 9 Bundt Pans and the Winner Is a 75-Year-Old Classic

Bundt cakes have a distinctly American history: Modeled after a traditional kugelhopf—a German tube cake made with yeast—the Bundt pan was designed by Nordic Ware co-founder David Dalquist in 1950. While the original Bundt pan cast was created in partnership with a Jewish women’s group so they could bake kugelhopf, Bundts rose to rapid fame 16 years later when a Tunnel of Fudge Bundt cake placed second in the 17th annual Pillsbury Bake-Off. Later, Nordic Ware and Pillsbury partnered to create cake mixes to sell with Bundt pans.

A Bundt pan’s design is brilliant because its tube shape and hollow center help large quantities of batter bake quickly. Its fluted design looks great imprinted on a dessert and makes portioning easier. A Bundt pan is also a versatile kitchen tool, and finding the right one can make plenty of recipes like holiday breakfasts and birthday punches easier. But not all Bundts are created equal! I researched nine of the most popular Bundt pans and put them to the test—baking cakes, making gelatin molds, and putting them through the wear and tear of cleanup. Not surprisingly, Nordic Ware got top marks. Read on to find out which other Bundt pans took the cake.

The Tests

• Bundt Cake Test: I coated each cake pan with Pam cooking spray and flour according to expert advice from Stella Parks (Serious Eats’ former baking editor). Then I filled each pan with a double batch of a simple olive oil cake. I baked them consecutively to observe the ease of filling, handling, and unmolding, as well as cleaning. 
• Wear and Tear Test: Using a butter knife, I scratched each pan 10 times to replicate the motion of cutting into or unsticking baked goods from the mold over time. 
• Gelatin Mold Test: Once I found my favorites, I filled them with a gelatin salad recipe, chilled them, and unmolded them with the help of a hot water bath.

What We Learned

Lighter-Colored Aluminum Pans Baked the Best 

While I intentionally chose metal pans for testing (silicone Bundt molds are more trouble than they’re worth), there was lots of variety in the materials and their finishes. Cast iron, ceramic-coated carbon steel, alloy steel, and aluminum were the most common materials. Aluminum pans generally out-baked other materials—the cakes rose and browned evenly and reached internal doneness (200°F for cakes) within the recipe's stated baking time. Alloy steel pans with a dark outer coating produced unevenly browned cakes: Some had a dark exterior edge and light interior, and others rose and sank. The one exception was the USA Pan Bakeware Nonstick Fluted Tube Cake Pan, whose nonstick coating is light in color. The only other surprise in the baking test was Lodge’s Cast Iron Fluted Cake Pan, which baked cakes just as well as the lighter aluminum and alloy steel pans. 

Pan Thickness Was Just as Important as Material 

While pan material and finish made a big impact on baking time and evenness, pan thickness was also an important factor for baking success and versatility. For example, one of Nordic Ware’s thinner Bundt pans, the Formed-Aluminum Bundt Cake Pan, fared well in the olive oil cake test. (It had a slightly darker exterior and less distinct design details.) But when dunked in hot water to unmold the gelatin salad, the Bundt heated too quickly and made a puddle of goo on the plate. I loved how well the Lodge Cast Iron Fluted Cake Pan baked (it had some of the crispest lines and a gorgeous color), but it was really heavy when maneuvering and unmolding, which disqualified it from the final gelatin mold test. 

Handles Were Seriously Helpful

I consider myself a minimalist when it comes to bakeware design. Sleekness is ideal for cleaning up as much as storage, but I can admit that handles on a Bundt pan are useful—ideal, actually, for unmolding a cake. When you invert the pan over a cooling rack or plate, the handles will give you confidence in flipping the whole thing over, especially when you’re wearing bulky oven mitts. If you own multiple Bundt pans, handles will make them difficult to stack, but it's worth the trade-off.

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Bundt Pan 

The best Bundt pans bake and brown cakes evenly and with crisp ridges from their fluted design. Unmolding should be smooth. I preferred pans made from lighter-coated aluminum or alloy steel with a three-millimeter thickness. Handles aren’t essential but they do make Bundt pans easier to use and more versatile. Most Bundt cake recipes require a pan with a 10- to 12-cup capacity, which all my winning pans can accommodate.  

Our Winning Bundt Pans

The Best Bundt Pan

Nordic Ware Platinum Collection Anniversary Bundt Pan

$39 at Amazon $50 at Williams Sonoma $44 at Walmart

What we liked: This is Nordic Ware’s premium Bundt pan and it’s arguably the most aesthetically pleasing pan I tested. Its cast aluminum design and deep ridges bake beautifully crisp lines and the nonstick coating makes unmolding stressless, even without proper pan prep. The handles have gorgeous design details and make taking baked goods in and out of the oven fuss-free.

What we didn’t like: The rope design on the handles could be a pain to clean if they get batter baked into them. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 1.9 Pounds
• Materials: Cast aluminum with light nonstick coating
• Thickness: 4 millimeters
• Capacity: 10 to 15 cups 
• Cleaning and Care: Hand-washing recommended

Another Great Bundt Pan

Nordic Ware 12-Cup Original Sparkling Silver Bundt Pan

$28 at Amazon $40 at Walmart

What we liked: This original Bundt pan design from Nordic Ware is minimalistic and affordable, and bakes cakes just as well as deluxe Bundt pans. The cast aluminum material coaetd with a light-colored nonstick coating helped me bake cakes that were evenly browned and easy to unmold. The simple design makes this better for tight storage—it can be stacked with other pans more readily. 

What we didn’t like: No handles on this pan made it difficult to invert for unmolding. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 2.1 Pounds
• Materials: Cast aluminum with light nonstick coating
• Thickness: 2.5 millimeters
• Capacity: 12 cups 
• Cleaning and Care: Hand-washing recommended, no metal tools or abrasive cleaners

The Best Budget Bundt Pan

USA Pan Nonstick Fluted Tube Cake Pan, 10-Inch

$39 $32 at Amazon

What we liked: This pan baked beautiful cakes and gelatin molds, despite being a different material (alloy steel) than the other winning pans. While it isn’t as pretty as some of the competitors, USA Pan’s Bundt pan is lightweight and easy to clean. 

What we didn’t like: This pan did not perform as well as the other winners in the scratch testing, which indicates that it won’t have the longevity of the other winners. The nonstick coating will wear off faster and make for a stickier pan that'll need to be replaced sooner. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 1.11 pounds
• Materials: Steel alloy with light nonstick coating
• Thickness: 3 millimeters
• Capacity: 12 cups
• Cleaning and Care: Hand-washing recommended

The Competition

• Lodge Cast Iron Fluted Cake Pan: All of the honorable mentions go to this pan. Yes, it is the heaviest of all the pans (a whopping nine pounds) and may be hard to keep seasoned, but if you’re looking for a Bundt pan without a nonstick coating that bakes a gorgeous cake, this pan is a winner.
• Nordic Ware Formed-Aluminum Bundt Cake Pan: Like the other Nordic Ware winners, this one has nice fluting and is easy to clean, but the thinner metal gave it a less-than-perfect bake in cake testing. It also made the gelatin dessert melt in the water bath during unmolding. 
• Wilton Perfect Results Premium Non-Stick Fluted Tube Pan: While I generally think of Wilton’s bakeware as high quality, this Bundt pan baked a cake that was over-browned on the outside and underdone in the middle. My initial results were so off (the cake sunk horribly) that I even tested a second batch of cake in this pan to be sure it wasn’t a measurement error. It was not. 
• Calphalon Classic Bakeware Nonstick Fluted Cake Pan: I own this Bundt pan, and I thought it was pretty decent. However, when compared to the other pans in testing, the fluting is rounded, which gives the cake fewer distinct ridges. My pan has also chipped and has lost some of its nonstick coating over the last five years of use—good thing I know which pan will be replacing it. 
• Anolon Advanced Nonstick Fluted Mold Baking Pan: This pan surprised me. Given its slightly lighter-colored coating, I expected it to perform better. But the carbon steel heated too slowly, resulting in a pale cake. The silicone-covered handles were also harder to clean. 
• casaWare Fluted Cake Pan 9.5-inch (12-Cup) Ceramic Coated NonStick: I know this pan is beloved for the ceramic coating that's supposed to be less toxic than nonstick coating, but this baked the palest of all cakes and the coating scratched easily in the first few runs of the wear and tear test. 

FAQs

How do you keep a Bundt cake from sticking? 

Most modern Bundt pans have a nonstick surface. Some experts suggest that you don’t need to do any additional pan prep to prevent sticking. However, for extra assurance, I take the advice of Stella Parks and coat the pan with original Pam nonstick spray and a dusting of flour. You can cover the pan with plastic wrap and shake the flour around for smooth, even coverage. 

Can you make bread in a Bundt pan? 

Yes, you can bake bread in a Bundt pan. You’re most likely to see variations on pull-apart-style monkey bread baked in Bundts, considering that Bundts were designed to mimic the tube pans for kugelhopf—a yeasted, bread-like cake. 

How do you take a cake out of a Bundt pan?

Most Bundt cake recipes call for cooling the cake for at least 10 minutes before attempting to unmold it. Cakes that cool completely in the pan, however, are more prone to sticking. Once the cake is slightly cooled, use a small offset spatula or butter knife to loosen around areas where the cake is still visibly connected to the pan. Then place a cooling rack over the cake and, using oven mitts if the pan is still hot, carefully invert the cake pan and cooling rack together and set them on the counter. The cake should slip easily onto the cooling rack to cool completely. A cooling rack allows airflow around—no soggy bottom from condensation. 

Why We’re the Experts

• Meghan Splawn is a freelance food writer and recipe developer who has worked in food media since 2006. 
• Her work includes 10 years in the test kitchen with Alton Brown, as well work for sites like TheKitchn.com, Simply Recipes, and Serious Eats. 
• For this story, she spent days testing Bundt pans in her home kitchen. Her neighbors were happy to help with the abundance of cake.