What kind of pan works best with a waterbath?

Question

Whenever I bake cheesecake or flan, my springform pan always leaks into the water bath or vice/versa. Is there a better type of pan to use when baking with a water bath?

Answer 1

You pretty much have to use the sprinform pan with cheesecakes, otherwise you can't get the cheesecake out of the pan. If you don't care to remove the cheesecake from the pan whole, then you can use anything you want—a deep cake pan would work well, for example.

There are two ways to help keep the springform pan from leaking:

1. Wrap the sprinform pan (the entire bottom, and up the sides) in aluminum foil. Use two layers of foil, especially if you're using the cheap thin stuff.

2. Find a round cake pan slightly larger than your sprinform pan (say, a 10" wide, 3" deep pan with a 9" springform). Sit the springform pan inside the cake pan, then put the cake pan in the bain-marie (so the water isn't actually touching the springform pan). This suggestion comes from Cooks Illustrated (sorry, paywall), who tested this and found the small gap doesn't matter.

If you're doing a lot of cheesecakes, then you can get a 10"x3" cake pan on Amazon for $10–15.

Answer 2

Consider a round silicone baking pan.