Just a quick question for those with Magic Line Pans. Several people were telling me to purchase the Magic Lines pans for the square cake that I am doing next month, of which I did so today. My question is, do I need bake even strips around them or does is bake rather even without them? The pans are really nice too and heavy. Thanks for all the suggestions!
my aunt uses those too, and she said they are fine without the strips....in fact she very rarely used her strips on any of her pans....
I'm just the opposite; I never bake without them. It could just be my oven/humidity/altitude, etc. here, but I always get a huge hump in the middle of my cakes if I don't use them. I've lowered my temperatures, raised the temperatures; you name it, I've done it and nothing other than the baking strips have worked for me. I don't know what I would have done without mine 
my favourite of all pans is my 13x9 heavy magic line with the lovely soldered square corners...it makes lovely cakes and lazagna and everything else (you need a tiny brush to get in the corners to clean it though).
i've never used baking strips and my cakes in this pan are always even and flat, with sharp 90 degree corners, even despite my oven being on a bit of a tilt.
ntertaynme: the humidty issue is certainly a tricky one. you might want to try getting an oven thermometer and seeing what temperature your oven is really heating up to (i've heard that ovens can actually vary by 100 degrees or more from what the dial on the oven indicates) -- that big hump you mention does sound like a too-hot oven issue, with the cake rising up too quickly from the sudden increase in its internal temp.
I have magic line pans. Love them! I never use bake even strips, I tapp it on the counter a couple of times (to get the air bubbles out) and then bake. I have never had to level a cake. Also, they are easier to clean than the Wilton pans, they don't have that weird finish on them. Nice crisp edges and corners too.
I like mine too! The only thing I don't like about them is that they take longer to bake a cake in. I still haven't gotten used to having a cake in the oven longer then the wilton pans.
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