I believe that most people who love to spend time in the kitchen are either natural born cooks or natural born bakers. For instance, my sister will invite you to dinner, order takeout, and serve you an amazing homemade dessert. I am the opposite. At my house the dinner is always homemade, but there is a decent chance that the dessert came from the local bakery. Baking is a part of kitchen life, though, and we all get the bug sometimes. So many memories are wrapped up with the idea of family celebrations, food, and time in the kitchen. Sometimes I want to taste the cherry cake that has been a family staple since my great-grandmother first made it over eighty years ago without trekking across town and bribing my sister to make it. Since I’m not a natural born baker, I really need the tools I use to be simple, functional, and hardy, so recently I decided to purchase a new stainless steel square cake pan.

After doing some research, I knew I wanted to buy a quality stainless steel product. I found this Tri-Ply pan to be very sturdy and I love that it’s dishwasher safe (I did not get one with non-stick coating to chance accidentally destroying it with badly timed brownies or scratching the finish using the wrong utensils). Flimsy bakeware is just not for me. The square shape turned out to be great for me too because I end up using it for a lot of non-cake dishes (it’s a great size for a small pan of dressing or au gratin potatoes). I’ve discovered that practical stainless steel cake pans are simply a great investment for any baker, no matter what their skill level!