If buying just one bundt pan, what size?

Question

I'm geezer with no baking experience, a kitchen the size of a Chiclet, and a handful of cake recipes that call for 8, 10, and 12-cup bundt pans. 

With no room to store kitchen equipment, can I get away with buying just one bundt pan? If I were to purchase a 12-cup pan, for instance, could I use it for 8 and 10-cup cake recipes as well?

Am guessing that an 8-cup recipe baked in a 12-cup bundt pan would take less time to bake. With that in mind, can I stick with the recommended oven temperature?

Would be grateful for any input, and thanks.

Answer

In my experience, most recipes are written for a traditional 12 cup Bundt pan.
This pan can also be used for a 10 cup recipe, but the cake will not be as high or shapely.

In recent years, they've introduced many beautiful shapes in the smaller 9-10 cup size, but these won't hold a full recipe meant for a 12 cup pan. Of course, the suggestion to bake a few cupcakes with any extra batter is a good one.

Nowadays, I'm more inclined to make a full recipe and bake in 2 6 cup pans (or halving the recipe for one pan) and freeze or give away the second cake. 

I find a larger cake too big and tempting to have around unless I'm expecting a large crowd. 

Please consider buying a heavier pan, such as the Nordic Ware pans sold at Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table.
There are thinner, less expensive versions sold elsewhere, but they seem more prone to sticking and uneven baking.

Whatever you decide, a Bundt pan is a great investment and will prove very useful.

Answer

I would get the Nordicware anniversary bundt as it has a design that is lenient on batter capacity, the design looks good with less cups of batter or more - you don't loose any detail with a smaller recipe. Also, it makes for a good vertical chicken roaster, you just slide the chicken down on the middle hole protrusion part.

The anniversary version is a little nicer also, and has handles. I like the handles!

You can find a better price on this, but it is 10 to 15 cup, not picky because the design is uniform. It looks nice too and the shape give you guides for thinner and for thicker pieces, to give cut line guides, so it looks good after slicing also! Let us know which you get! I have seen this at TJ Maxx before also, shop around for a good price, this is not a good price:

https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/anniversary-bundt-cake-pan/?catalogId=38&sku=8232084&cm_ven=PLA&cm_cat=Google&cm_pla=Bakeware%20%3E%20Cake%20Pans%20%3E%20Bundt%28R%29%20Cake%20Pans&kwid=productads-adid%5E225675118204-device%5Ec-plaid%5E368842949173-sku%5E8232084-adType%5EPLA&gclid=CjwKCAiAr_TQBRB5EiwAC_QCq1Rv-zwR6jv2V7pOhYuEwUSfHfOPC9UxrrXfA50eQlRIEXGbHe6kCxoC8-MQAvD_BwE&cm_ite=[[PLA]%20-%20Manu%20Desk/Tab]

Answer

Oh and there is a stick that you can put in bundt cakes that will tell you when they are done. Usually they are underdone a tiny bit because they keep cooking for a bit after you take them out of the oven. You don't want a dry bundt. Also, the temp would be the same, it would be the time that would change, it would get done faster the less batter you had.

I really think the Nordicware anniversary bundt is the best for you as it will take all sizes of bundt recipes and also could be used as a vertical chicken roaster and has handles, so easier to hang on to while hot, I mean the nonstick coating is all over the pan, nice to had handles to really hang on to and also, you could hang it from a cookware hanger. I got this rod and put it above my kitchen sink window to hang even more cookware on, the bundt pan should be able to hang on something like that if it has handles.

Here is this one for $20 - it is silver - they are different colors depending on where you get them, WS has the gold colored nonstick one.

I just found this, this is helpful as it has pictures and more info - this pan is made in the USA! And they are calling it 12 cup, but it is the 10 to 15 cup. See the low bundt? The pan is twice that high! So that was less batter, but still looks good!

https://food52.com/shop/products/3568-nordic-ware-anniversary-bundt-pan?gclid=CjwKCAiAr_TQBRB5EiwAC_QCq_ia2RQ_Ar0IcUSwUCk7Kgxue7Sm0JvlVK8GjzHDYWzbbTZGR6UtjRoCC1wQAvD_BwE

there are cute bundt designs like Christmas trees, holiday houses and such, but the design is not continuous from top to bottom, so you have to fill the right capacity or it won't look right.

Hope this helps!

edit: Do you see on the pan, how it is one thin slice, then thick slice, then thin and so on? That helps with cutting, and someone wants a big piece, you would give them the thicker and someone asking for a "sliver" - give them the thin piece.

Answer

12 cups for the win. You can always fill it less, can't actually fill it *more*!

Being a ridiculous paleo-hound/antiquarian sentimentalist, my first and most used pan has been an old "Northland Aluminum" (Pre Nordicware) uncoated cast aluminum pan (just like grandma!) that has served me well. Of course the modern nonstick offerings are pretty cherry.... I do like the nonstick coating...

Answer

After buying a few Nordic Ware bundt pans, I have now settled on the crown Anniversary edition: https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/nordic-ware-70th-anniversary-crown-bundt-pan/?pkey=cbundt-cake-pans&isx=0.0.1583

It's a 10-cup and the only one I still use.

Answer

No Bundt pans, but interesting re cake pans in general, including depth of pan vs. amount of batter:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2017/05/guide-to-best-cake-pans.html

Of the Bundt pan shapes, I've only used a large-size classic design. My guess would be that those may be good for starting out, since the rounded tops should be easier to get out of the pan neatly than those with sharper edges.

Answer

I use my traditional bundt which has a 15 cup volume the most. You can bake 10-15 cups in it. That's the one I'd go with. I also have an 8 cup, which I use for recipes that you'd cook in a loaf pan. You really aren't supposed to fill these more than 3/4 full with cake batter. Obviously it depends on how much that recipe will rise.

Answer

If you have limited storage space and live solo, maybe you should buy 2 6-cup pans instead of 1 12-cup. The 2 pans would nest inside each other so they would not take up any more space than a single 6 cup pan. And, it would enable you to make 2 smaller cakes, rather than one large -- if you wanted to immedlately consume half of a recipe (presumably with others) and freeze or give away the other half, a whole 6-cup cake would be prettier than 1/2 of a 12 cup.

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