That said, any pan is the right pan if it helps you put baked goods in the oven. The standard advice for baking in glass is to lower the oven temperature by 25°F from what the recipe calls for, and bake up to 10 minutes longer.
If all you have in your household is glassware and you don't wish to buy any metal pans, you want to adjust the time and temperature of the baking. Kristina Razon, a former Serious Eats editor and avid baker suggests dropping the temperature of the recipe by 25°F and increasing the baking time by five to 10 minutes.
If all you have is a glass pan, here's what to do: try dropping the temperature from 350°F to 325°F and increasing the time anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the volume of batter. Here's a link to my *favorite* metal pan: rstyle. me/+DG_DigmJgJO0MlTRk2nnHw.
As you can see in the photo, the slower transfer of heat to the batter means cakes baked in glass (or ceramic) will take longer to cook than those in metal (5 to 8 minutes longer, according to a test with yellow cake done by Cook's Illustrated).
Because glass is an insulator, rather than a conductor, it's slow to heat but, once hot, retains that heat for longer. This can result in uneven baking: By the time the interior is baked through, the exterior is often overcooked, dry, or dark.
Glass warms slower than metal, but retains heat longer after baking. So desserts continue cooking after oven removal. So prevent overbaking by lowering the temperature by about 25 degrees. For instance, if a cake calls for 350°C in metal, use 325°C in glass instead.
Ceramics function better than glass, it takes more time to heat up compared to metal but it holds heat longer. It has a nonporous surface which makes it safer to store food, and easier to clean up.
This means it takes longer than metal to heat up, but it also holds heat longer than a metal pan. Because of this, brownies baked in a glass pan will need more time to bake. That slow heat-up and additional time can result in brownies with hard, overly-baked edges and a questionably “done” center.
Pour into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time. If you love instant read thermometers like I do, the internal temperature of your cake should be around 205.
There are three things to keep in mind to achieve pound cake glory: First, a metal loaf pan conducts heat faster than a glass one, resulting in a higher rise and golden crust—avoid glass loaf pans which conduct heat slowly and lead to a dense, greasy cake.
It is hard to tell how much you will need to adjust the time by as this will depend on the size difference but for a larger pan start checking 10-15 minutes prior to the stated time, and for a smaller pan add time in 5-minute increments until it is baked.
If you do decide to opt for a glass pan, it's crucial to reduce the temperature by 25 degrees Fahrenheit and bake it for an extra 10 minutes to counteract its poor heating capabilities.
Some of Dawn's favorite baking tips:
Bake your cakes at 325° not 350°. This will allow your cake to rise more. Don't grease the sides of your baking pan. Greasing the sides of the pan will not allow your cake to climb the edges of the pan and grow tall.
Bakes more quickly than metal: If you need to substitute a glass pan for a metal one, you will need to decrease the oven temperature by about 25 degrees to ensure that your baked good does not bake too quickly and burn.
Glass bakeware is heavier and slower to heat than metal, but once it's hot, it retains that heat for much longer. So when using a glass pan to bake something like a cake or a batch of brownies, you may find that the sides and bottom will brown at a much faster rate than the interior cooks.
Metal pans are better heat conductors than glass pans, meaning the food inside cooks more evenly. Most baking recipes for cakes, muffins, cupcakes, coffee cake, banana bread, and brownies call for metal bakeware.
Knowing the math now, we can figure out how to adapt the 9” cake recipe for my 7” cake tin. All we need to do is divide the 9” surface area by the 7” cake tin surface area: 64 (surface area of 9” cake tin) divided by 39 (surface area of 7”) = 1.64. Thus, divide all ingredients of 9” cake recipe by 1.64.
Can I Substitute a Metal Pan for a Glass Pan? Yes! If the recipe you're following originally calls for a glass pan, just know you may need to shave 5 to 10 minutes off the baking time.
Glass or dark-colored pans can cause the edges to overbake or even burn. Always grease the pan thoroughly with shortening, softened butter, or cooking spray. (Do this even if the recipe doesn't specify.)
The standard advice for baking in glass is to lower the oven temperature by 25°F from what the recipe calls for, and bake up to 10 minutes longer. The hard edges we see here are more pronounced in high-sugar, high-fat recipes; your casserole or bread pudding are less likely to be adversely affected.
In many ways, ceramic is like glass: It conducts heat very well, but can cause over-browning in sweet dishes. The biggest advantage of ceramic is that these dishes look pretty! Foods can be served and stored in their baking dish! Ceramic pans are best for casseroles (for savory dishes, cobblers, bread puddings, etc.)
We recently tested an additional glass baking dish. The Pyrex Easy Grab 3-Quart Oblong Baking Dish remains our winner.
Baking pans are frequently made from aluminum (an excellent heat conductor), or an aluminum-steel combination. Less common are stainless steel pans; while easy to clean and non-reactive, they don't conduct heat as well as aluminum.