Why Uncoated Aluminium Cake Pans Are Best

Food writer Ella Quittner doesn't just test recipes. She tests several dozen recipes and techniques of a particular beloved food – from chocolate-chip cookies to pasta alla vodka – in order to create the best possible version of each. After testing over 37 classic yellow cake recipes for her cookbook Obsessed with the Best (available here), she discovered an essential ingredient: an uncoated aluminium pan, like our range of Silverwood baking tins. 

'An ungreased, uncoated aluminium pan is mission-critical for a soft and fluffy yellow cake like the one in my book, which relies on whipped egg whites for its rise,' Ella says. 'The rougher surface means extra assistance for the batter to climb the pan's walls in the oven, and prevent it from slip-n-sliding back down and collapsing into itself.' (Note: Silverwood pans are made of uncoated anodised aluminium, which makes the surface safe and non-reactive.)

What about for cakes that aren’t soft and tender, like yellow cake? Same deal: Anodised aluminium's superior heat conductivity ensures a perfectly even bake and a delicate, golden crust across all varieties of baked goods, preventing dense crumbs. Beyond soft sponges, this material provides the necessary surface friction for batters to 'climb' the walls, ensuring a light, airy rise that non-stick coatings tend to suppress.

Why We Love Silverwood Cake Pans

  • Superior Heat Conductivity: Aluminium conducts heat quickly. Unlike stainless steel, iron, or ceramic, it reacts almost instantly to temperature changes. This distributes heat rapidly across the entire surface, ensuring your cake doesn't have hot spots where one side burns while the other stays raw. When you take the pan out of the oven, aluminium cools down quickly, which stops the baking process immediately. This prevents the carry-over cooking that can turn a moist sponge cake dry.

  • The 'Climb' Factor: When making a sponge cake, the batter needs to grip the sides of the pan in order to get a tall, airy rise. In a non-stick pan, the batter slips down the sides as it tries to expand, often resulting in a shorter, denser cake. Uncoated aluminium pans like Silverwood, on the other hand, provide the necessary friction for the batter to climb upward.

  • Better Crust and Colour: Non-stick coatings are usually dark in colour. Dark surfaces absorb more radiant heat, which often leads to over-browning, where your baked goods turn a dark, hard brown before the middle is actually cooked. High-quality uncoated pans, like Silverwood, are light-coloured, reflecting heat so the crust develops a gentle, golden-brown hue and a delicate texture.

  • Durability: Unlike non-stick pans which eventually flake, peel, or lose their slickness, Silverwood bakeware has a sealed, anodised surface that will never peel or rust. These are lifetime products.

  • Made in the UK: Supporting Silverwood means backing a legacy of British craftsmanship that has been refined in Birmingham since 1960. By keeping production local, they maintain a smaller carbon footprint and ensure rigorous quality control that mass-produced imports simply can't match.

Are Uncoated Aluminium Pans Safe?

Aluminium pans are safe as long as they are anodised, or sandwiched between layers of a non-reactive metal like stainless steel (like most multi-ply cookware). Anodising transforms the surface of aluminium into a hard, non-reactive layer of aluminium oxide which effectively seals the metal. This ensures that the pan is completely leach-proof, preventing any aluminium from migrating into your food, even when cooking acidic ingredients, eliminating the health concerns often associated with raw, untreated aluminium. All Silverwood pans are anodised aluminium.

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