Baking – Why use metal cake pan instead of silicone one

Structure is the main reason a tube pan is used for angel food cake. Angel food cake rises a lot, but does not have much of any gluten network or other means of supporting this structure. The egg whites can hold the air bubbles initially, but will lose them eventually. (Hence you should not delay baking after the batter is mixed, and you should treat the batter gently, spooning into the pan and taking care to not slam the pan around.) The tube pan helps because as the batter rises, it can "climb" the pan, sticking to the edges. This is also why angel food cake is left to cool upside-down in the pan for an unusually long time; it should not be removed from the pan until it is completely set. If it weren't for the tube, the center of the cake would not have anything strong to hold it up, so it would collapse. This is not an issue for cupcakes because they are so small.

Well, the obvious answer is to buy a metal cake pan. Otherwise:

1. You could try putting a jellyroll or cookie sheet under it. Then grab the cookie sheet to rotate. Beware that depending on what the pan is made of, it may affect browning especially on the bottom of the cake. Adding some insulation (e.g., parchment) may help.

2. Plain aluminum foil may work too. That'll slide fairly easily on the rack, and again you can grab it easily. Especially if you pull the pan out of the oven, aluminum foil surrounded by air will cool quickly, and you'll be able to grab it without the inflexible mitts.

3. Similarly, a sheet of parchment paper under the pan. Same principle as the aluminum, except even at oven temperatures you can grab parchment briefly.