What Is A Loose-Bottomed Cake Pan?

Our answer

Nigella occasionally mentions loose-bottomed cake pans, such as in the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake (from COOK, EAT, REPEAT). Sometimes they are also referred to as "sandwich tins". These pans are not quite the same as springform pans as they have loose bottoms that can easily be pushed upwards, helping to remove the cooked cake from the pan. Springform bases tend to be locked in place in a special ridge at the bottom of the pan.

Loose-bottomed cake pans are more common in the UK than anywhere else and are perfect for thicker cake batters, such as a Victoria sandwich cake. But for more liquid cake batters they are not particularly good as some of the the cake batter tends to leak out through the base before the cake has time to bake properly. Hence Nigella tends to give a warning not to use a loose-bottomed pan for certain types of cake batter. Solid-based cake pans are more common in the US and other countries and are good for all types of cake, but may need slightly more careful greasing and lining to make sure that the baked cake releases easily from the pan.