Cornbread help please

Hello all. Just signed up today. Having problems with cornbread recipes calling for 8x8 pans. I know you're supposed to use cast iron, but several recipes and makers of cornbread mixes say not to use cast iron. The recipe I have says to grease, oil, or spray a 8x8 pan, preheat in oven and then pour in batter. Problem is that a non-stick pan does not cling to the oil. When the pan gets hot enough, the oil just rolls around. I poured the batter in anyway, and when it was done, the cornbread stuck to the pan. I scraped it out, soaked the pan to clean it and noticed exactly where I poured, (exactly where the batter hit first) the pan was discolored. Like a heat bloom. The only thing I can think of is to ignore pre-heating pans like this(cake pans) and just put in oven with the batter like a regular cake.
Any comments or help would be grateful.