Festive Bundt Pans

Bundt pans are used in millions of homes around the world for baking decorative, tube-shaped cakes. When we last tested Bundt pans, the Nordic Ware Anniversary Bundt Pan took the cake (pun intended). Since then we’ve baked dozens of cakes in our winner and have been continually impressed with its even baking and effortless release. Plus, every cake we make in it is eye-catching with a defined design. Nordic Ware makes several other Bundt pans that have intricate, beautiful designs, so we decided to test a few of those, too.

All the models we tested are made from cast aluminum with a silicone nonstick finish. One pan’s shape is a thick, woven braid; another is a vintage star; and the last pan is a complex pattern similar to the Jubilee Diamond. Two of the pans have golden-hued exteriors, with light-silver interiors; the third pan has a silver exterior, with a slightly darker silver interior than the other two pans. We tested the pans by baking Classic Yellow Bundt Cake in each. Then we evaluated how well the cakes baked and browned, how nonstick the pans were, and how easy the pans were to use. 

It’s one thing to see the mold of a Bundt pan, but it’s another to flip a Bundt cake after baking and see a defined, complex design. Each cake we baked gave us that satisfying feeling when we removed the mold. Each baked to an even golden-brown hue and released from the pan’s nonstick coating with ease. Even though none of the pans we tested had the same helpful handles of the Nordic Ware Anniversary Bundt Pan, we found them relatively easy to maneuver and flip after baking.

Our winning Bundt pan’s capacity is 15 cups. But Nordic Ware doesn’t make their more decorative Bundt pans in this size; the three Bundt pans we included are smaller, with 10- or 12-cup capacities. The 12-cup Bundt pan works well with all our recipes. However, while the 10-cup models hold our Classic Yellow Bundt Cake perfectly, they're a bit small for certain other recipes, such as our Marbled Blueberry Bundt Cake and Cider-Glazed Apple Bundt Cake. With these, you'll want to use slightly less batter, filling to only about 1½ inches below the rim of the pan. You can use the excess batter to bake a few muffins. Because the cake will be smaller, check it for doneness about 15 minutes sooner than called for in the recipe.

We have only two small gripes—one of the pans is so intricately designed that it was tedious to butter and harder to clean than the other pans. Secondly, the design of another pan in our lineup was a bit less well-defined than the other two. While it was still beautiful, we preferred the precise look of the other two cakes. Even with those small quibbles, we still recommend each pan we tested and know you’ll be happy with cake baked in any of them. If you’re looking for a change from our more classically shaped Bundt pan, these pans produce striking, eye-catching cakes destined to be your table’s centerpiece.