Have your cake and Tin it! (Faringdon Non Stick Springform with Glass Base)

Member Name: mummy2harry

Product:	Faringdon Non Stick Springform with Glass Base
Date:	13/05/09 (113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sturdy, good size, good value

Disadvantages: Cake bits stick to the glass plate

I have always loved cooking, right from when I was young in the kitchen with my mum helping spoon the fairy cake mixture into the little cake cases and then putting way too much icing on the top! I love baking cakes even now, and Harry is now my little helper in the kitchen which makes it far more interesting! However, I have been branching out lately and trying new things so I have started to acquire some new bakeware to make my life easier and expand the variety of things I am able to make. After finding a recipe I really fancied, I discovered I needed a 20cm cake tin and a quick browse on Amazon led to me purchasing this tin.

Although I haven't heard of it before, Faringdon bakeware seems to be readily available on the internet, and I have seen a fair bit of it in stores such as TK Maxx as well for very reasonable prices. I read some reviews on it before I bought this one and they did seem positive so I took a chance on this tin. It is a 20cm tin in diameter, has a clear glass base and is also springform, which I will explain further on in the review. It is made of carbon steel, so is very strong and hard-wearing and should last you for a long, long time. I hate buying cheap tins and having to replace them every few months, so I decided to go for something a bit better and I hoped this tin would fit the brief for me.

Before using the tin the first time, I gave it a wash in hot soapy water to make sure it was totally clean. There was a big white label on the bottom of the glass which didn't come off too easily and has left a sticky patch on the underside of the glass which doesn't seem to want to come off. It seems a bit silly that they stuck a very sticky sticker on the glass instead of the metallic sides, but that is just a small matter. After washing it, I decided to bake a cake to try it out. Before cooking a cake, you have to grease the tin and this was easy to do with the nice wide tin, and the baking paper sat nicely on the bottom of the glass. The glass seemed well held in by the springform casing, and I started to make my Orange Drizzle cake.

When the batter was ready, I poured it straight into the cake tin. It sat in there nicely and didn't leak which did worry me slightly, so I was happy. I popped it into the oven for the 30 minutes and when my timer beeped, I grabbed my oven gloves and lifted it onto the mat. So far, so good. It was still in one piece and the cake looked done which of course is good. I gave the cake a little shake to loosen it but it didn't seem to budge. I decided to let it cool for 15 minutes and then try to remove it. I slid a spatula around the edge to loosen it after a bit and that was fine, so I removed the outer metal casing. You just open the sprung clasp carefully which opens up the case and allows you to slide it up and remove it. This part worked perfectly and it came away without mess and without ruining my cake.

The problem came when I had to take it off the glass plate. Despite my drawing around the tin, the baking paper circle ended up being slightly smaller than the glass part, so the cake was stuck a bit. I tried sliding the spatula underneath to take it off but no luck. I ended up putting the cake upside down on a plate when it was totally cool and literally ripping it off. Luckily my cake wasn't too badly damaged, just a few missing edges at the bottom but I wasn't too bothered as it was underneath. I really had to soak the glass plate in hot water to get the cake bits off but after soaking, they did come off okay. When it was all washed, it looked like new and I was fairly impressed with its performance. I guess you could always serve the cake on the glass plate if you wished, but again you would have needed to use baking paper to ensure it doesn't stick, and then wash it before serving.

Putting it together again was a bit of a palaver, and I still haven't quite got the hang of it. You have to have the metal casing open, and then slide the plate into the groove near the bottom of the tin, all the while trying to put the clasp back together to secure it. I found that I had to balance it on my leg in order to get it back together, as if I closed it too soon, the plate wasn't secure and I couldn't push it down properly into the groove and therefore it wasn't flat and was unsafe. I have sinced used it a couple of times and am getting better, although I still put it back together on a carpeted floor as I don't want to drop it and smash it! I am sure there is an easier way but I haven't yet found it!

For the good price I paid for this tin, I am pleased with the quality of it. It certainly did the job that I asked of it, my cake was cooked, came out flat and well cooked, and it held the batter in as well, which is always good! It does say that it is non-stick and while this is true for the metal casing, I found it not to be the case for the glass plate at the bottom. I can't really see the benefit of it being glass bottomed rather than steel, but there you go. Because you need to use baking paper on the bottom ,its not like you can see through it to see your cake, and it just ends up being harder to clean as well when the cake is cooked onto the glass. I think next time I would choose a steel tin, but still I am happy enough with this one for now. It can be annoying to put back together but I am sure with practice I will get the hang of it. The clasp is very tight and holds the glass securely, so I am happy with that part of the tin. If I were to bake more regularly, I may well upgrade to another tin but for my attempts, this definitely suffices.

Dimensions: 20cm dia x 8.5cm

Currently selling on Amazon for £4.70.

Thank you for reading.

Summary: A good cake tin