Magic Line are my favorite! Fat Daddio's are pretty good too. I'm trying to stay away from my Wiltons. I find they don't cook as evenly.
AMagic line pans have straight sides and the square pans are the only ones with true corners. I have those and only those
Actually, Wilton Decorator Preferred, LloydsPans [lloydpans.com], and Bakery Craft also make perfectly fine, straight cornered/edge pans. The heavier the gauge, the better.
I also prefer the older versions of all of those pans, when I can find them--the metal is sturdier than brand new ones.
I definitely second MB and Morgan. The few Wilton pans I have are very lightweight, so perhaps, as Maybenot said, if they were a heavier gauge they would bake a bit better.
So, I'm baking cake tonight and thought I'd take a quick picture to illustrate (you know, because I don't feel like washing dishes yet and my 2nd batch of cakes are still in the oven- LOL). I have two 8 inch pans, one a Wilton and one Magic Line. I'm slowly replacing my Wiltons but haven't quite gotten there yet. Anyway, the cake on the right was baked in the Magic Line and the cake on the left was baked in a Wilton pan. As you can see, the Magic Line gives really nice straight lines and a sharp edge. The Wilton pan, not as much. It's a bit more rounded. I used Bake Even strips (which I love) so they are roughly the same height but quite different around the edges. So, why does it matter? Because when I got to torte, fill, stack, and frost my cake, I'm probably going to have to work a bit harder to get them nice and even. I find using Magic Line consistently makes that process a bit easier.
Anyway, I hope this helps 
A
Original message sent by maybenot
Actually, Wilton Decorator Preferred, LloydsPans [lloydpans.com], and Bakery Craft also make perfectly fine, straight cornered/edge pans. The heavier the gauge, the better.
I also prefer the older versions of all of those pans, when I can find them--the metal is sturdier than brand new ones.
I stand corrected..I've been giving ppl bad info for years lol!
AThis is definitely some great information!! I've only been decorating for about a year so I have Wilton pans. I bought a set of magic line 4x2 pans and they are sharper around the corners. It may be a little bit before I can buy new pans but I definitely would like too.
The sets of Wilton pans that you find at Michael's and Joanne--round, oval, petal, hex, etc.--are generally NOT the Wilton Decorator Preferred pans--they are Wilton Performance. The Performance pans don't have very crisp edges and they are a thin gauge.
Walmart does carry a set of round DP pans: http://www.walmart.com/ip/25211979?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227017984432&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=35475559956&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=50615076756&veh=sem
If you place a Wilton DP pan next to an ML pan of the same shape, you can't tell the difference. If you place a Lloyds Pan next to an ML, you also can't tell the difference.
AThe only pans I get precious about are my Invictas (I am only a hobby baker) I find they are heavyweight enough for my fruit cakes and give nice sharp edeges/corners. They cost £20 - 30 brand new in the Uk...other makes brand new might be £10 -15. I have to watch that Hubby doesn't 'Tidy Up' the cupboard and place them near an outside wall (Risk of rust) My Dad 'Tidied Up' my Mothers and took them downstairs to the cellar!!! They went rusty and she went livid at him!!!!
I'm just a hobby baker. I have an "eclectic" set of pans.
I started with mixed collection of metal pans bought in a giant box set from Amazon.com. when I moved to Australia Then, I have a couple pyrex round and rectangular plans given to me by my husband's grandmother, including two pie plates. These are nice _old_ pyrex and very sturdy/dependable. Along with cakes, I like to make pies, so pie plates are very important. I also have a couple large round oven-safe ceramic pans, two round metal cookie sheets, and a round pizza sheet (metal with small holes) made to fit specially in my convection microwave. I use the pizza sheet for bread rolls and artisan loaves of bread since I can't find a round pizza stone (and the small square ones are too small). The two round ceramic pans double as large diameter cake pans (when I want to make layer cake for a shower or other big gathering). It's a bit fussy to bake in ceramic but I've gotten used to them. My collection finishes up with three 9" pans my husband bought in a specialty cook shop but I didn't recognize the brand at the time (and I've forgotten since then).
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