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If you’re here looking for the best springform pan, there’s a 99% chance that you’re baking cheesecake. Sure, springform pans are versatile—perhaps you’re making a savory dish like a quiche, a no-bake tart, deep-dish pizza, or big, beautiful Boston cream pie—but once you have one of these specialty cake pans in your kitchen, perfect cheesecakes become inevitable. And isn’t that a beautiful thing?
Springform pans are used for delicate cakes and other baked goods that need to be gently unmolded after baking. They have two elements: a round detachable base and an expandable circular ring with a locking mechanism that forms the sides. Once the base is inserted, the ring is clipped shut to form a tight and (hopefully) leakproof seam; once the contents have been baked and cooled, the ring is unclipped, expanded, and lifted off. We tested nine of the best-selling models on the market to find the best springform pan money can buy, and found one that’s miles ahead of the rest.
The best springform pan: Fat Daddio’s
After baking a cheesecake in the Fat Daddio, all other springform pans immediately became irrelevant. This model is a marvel, with high sides that can contain the most beastly of batters, sturdy construction that won’t warp or bend, and a unique design that ensures a snug fit between the pan and removable base.
The Fat Daddio springform pan is nearly a full inch taller than most of the baking pans I tested, and that extra room is worth having. A shorter pan might be able to handle a classic, dense New York cheesecake recipe, but do you really want something that’s only good for making a single recipe?
If a pan is taking up precious room in your kitchen cabinets, it should be pulling its weight and making the magic happen in myriad ways. This best springform pan does just that. With the Fat Daddio, you can bake fluffy Japanese cheesecakes, airy chiffon cakes, and soufflés that puff sky-high in the oven. You can use it to make homemade ice cream cakes, multilayered mousse desserts, and quiches that can wow a crowd.
This best springform pan is a high-quality professional grade, meaning it’s built to hold up to regular, repeated use and churn out quality cakes consistently. In the context of a home kitchen where it’s unlikely to see that sort of frequent, heavy-duty use, it’s quite possible this will be the last springform pan you’ll ever need to buy. Made of thick anodized aluminum with a stainless-steel buckle, this pan reflects heat instead of absorbing it, providing even, steady heat from every angle. Anodizing is a process that seals aluminum on a molecular level, meaning there’s no need for chemical coatings that can potentially scratch or chip, or contain toxic forever chemicals and PFOAs. Though anodizing doesn’t create a nonstick surface, it does make it durable and resistant to corrosion, which is why it’s often the preferred cake pan material for professional use.
Though the height and construction is more than enough for Fat Daddio to take the best springform pan crown, what makes it truly extraordinary is the bottom of the pan, which is a pedestal-style base. Unlike other pans that use flimsy metal circles as their removable bottoms that (hopefully) fit tightly within shallow grooves in the springform’s sides, the Fat Daddio’s bottom is a hefty circle of solid metal with a raised center. Once you slip the springform circle over the elevated base and close the latch, it creates a tight, impenetrable seal that eliminates the threat of leakage. After trying this style of springform pan, I’ll never use another.
Truthfully, it’s hard to find anything about the Fat Daddio to complain about. It’s the finest springform pan I’ve ever used, and I made my first cheesecake way, way back in 1992. (It was the first thing I ever baked and launched my career, so when I’m talking about springform pans, you can be sure I’m not messing around.)
Dimensions: Interior; 9" x 3.75"; overall 11.125" x 3.8"
Dishwasher-safe: Hand-washing is recommended
Warranty: Lifetime warranty
How I tested
Most cheesecake recipes call for baking in a hot water bath, which ensures the sides of the pan will not get hotter than the boiling point of water, making for a gentler baking process. While this is great for producing soft-set, crack-free cakes, it’s not ideal for getting the full picture when testing a springform pan. That’s why I chose to use this Basque cheesecake recipe instead, which is baked aggressively at a high temperature resulting in a deeply caramelized (or even burnt) exterior. It’s also a cake that puffs up madly while baking before gently deflating as it cools, resulting in a remarkable texture that’s lighter and creamier than richer, denser New York–style cheesecake. While springform pans come in different sizes, I tested exclusively 9" pans because they are the most useful diameter. If you want to get a whole springform pan set though, Fat Daddio pans are available in six different sizes.
Springform pans can also come in different materials—glass bottom pans or silicone springform pans, for example—but I only used aluminum or aluminized steel pans, which tend to be more durable and heat resistant.
What I looked for
Originally I had expected to judge the Basque cheesecakes on the usual criteria (color, flavor, texture, easy release from the pan, etc.), but they all became almost immediately irrelevant after the majority ended up overflowing out of their pans while baking, even when the recipe (which was written for a 10" pan) was properly scaled for all the 9" springform pans I tested.
Only two pans were up to the Basque cheesecake challenge, and both did a beautiful job of baking. Alas, there can only be one winner, so in determining the winner, I also considered price, durability, and ease of use.
Other springform pans I tested
Of the seven springform pans I tested, only Williams-Sonoma’s Goldtouch Pro came remotely close to rivaling the Fat Daddio. This pan also uses a pedestal-style base, and is truly nonstick thanks to a golden ceramic coating on top of its aluminized steel construction. It does a marvelous job of baking, but there are two major caveats to make note of.
First, the springform ring separates into two halves that are held together with heavy-duty slip-on plastic brackets with silicone strips that create a tight seal where the edges meet to eliminate any possibility of leaks. Though the design is highly functional, it has four separate pieces to keep track of. You’ll likely never misplace the pan itself, but if one of the slim plastic brackets finds its way down the garbage disposal or gets lost among your kitchen’s odds and ends, the entire pan is toast. The second caveat: The Williams-Sonoma Goldtouch Pro costs significantly more than the Fat Daddio, which is both a better pan and a better value.
I’m grouping the below pans together because their issues are all the same. The springform pans from HiWare, Wilton, Nordicware, Winco and Cuisinart employ the classic two-piece springform design with a thin bottom, which is inferior and, frankly, there is no reason to consider when compared to pedestal-based pans. All five of these pans felt flimsy, with outer rims that can be easily bent and springs that loosen with repeated usage. They all top out at 2" high, which limits their usage to shallow cakes and tarts. Though they’re all cheaper than our top pick, they’ll undoubtedly need replacing down the line.
The takeaway
There is one springform pan to rule them all and it is the Fat Daddio. If you need a cheesecake pan or you’re baking any other springform-pan-friendly items, it is the only way to go.
