Need More Pans. Go With Wilton Or Professional
Decorating By loves2bake4six Updated 31 Aug 2009 , 1:01am by 1234me
I am a newbie on this board and just starting out baking cakes commercially for a small local tea shop and commissions.
I need some more round and square pans and was wondering whether to stick with Wilton brand or switch to professional brands like Magic Line or Fat Daddios.
Do you have a preference for another brand?
I'd love to get more information.
I am a newbie on this board and just starting out baking cakes commercially for a small local tea shop and commissions.
Wilton pans are not commercial pans, but they're fine for hobby bakers like me. They are widely available and can be had quite reasonably using either Michaels or Hobby Lobby 40% off coupons. So it's possible to have two sets of all the traditional and new wedding cake pan sets without breaking the budget.
(And no company has as large an online presence as Wilton, with info on how to use all their products!)
But if you're baking commercially, the commercial pans are made to hold up to constant usage. (These pans have the features required by professional bakers like heavier weight and sharper corners than Wilton's....) Of course, you'll be paying commercial pan prices, but it'll be an investment in your business.
I would stick with 2" deep pans and buy the basic shapes first since you'll probably use them the most.
HTH
Janh has given you some excellent advice but if you can I'd go with ML especially for square and sheet pans, your cakes will bake with nice crisp corners in these pans.
Here's a link that was done where a poll was taken for all 3 pans plus pics showing the difference of the end product:
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=595624&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=magic&&start=15
You can shop around and get some decent prices on-line. Amazon often has buy 3 get one 4 offers for magic line pans (parrish is the manufacturer) and sometimes they have 50-70% off some of them. I bought most of mine from cooksdream (they were the most reasonably priced that shipped to Canada (I was there at the time)) but have since bought more from Amazon.
Magic Line. No question. They are worth the price, and it's cheaper in the long run to get the more expensive pans first, than to get the cheaper pans, and have to get the expensive pans also not long down the line. ( 
Does that make sense? It did in my head... 
)
In any case, you can CLEARLY see the difference between the ML pans and all the others (several brands... don't know the names of any. ML are stamped into the pan) at the bakery I work at. We're talking daily use and serious abuse. The ML ones look great. The others look.... bent, dented, and are practically unusable.
Relatively speaking, Magic Line are not expensive. I think last time I bought them, in July, the eight-inch pan was like 6-7 dollars. Yes, they do cost more than that Wilton crap, but I would never consider them expensive.
Like many other things, you get what you pay for.
Absolutely Magic Line. They're the "gold standard" in this biz. I own ONE FD pan and that will be the only one I buy. I started out with Wilton before I knew any better. They really are inferior products if you're baking much at all. So, in summary, Wilton, no more; FD, never again; Magic Line, always.
You will NEVER regret buying good tools.
Thank you all.
Yes, magic line is more costly but if I buy the pans as I need them, then definitely not expensive.
Off to look at Amazon and the other sites mentioned.
FYI
Amazon has Magic Line at 4 for 3 right now and free shipping (we're prime members) so definitely the best deal around by far.
I'm mainly a hobby baker--we'll see how it goes--but I LOVE my magic line pans!! They are the best!!! Come out perfect everytime!!
I bought square pans from LLoyd's http://www.lloydpans.com/C-1000053/Bakeware . They are equal quality to ML but less expensive. They come in a non-stick, I got the plain aluminum and love them. The outsides of white cakes bake to a nice golden color.
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