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If you want a beehive cake, the pan decides what you get. A two-cavity hive gives you two tall domed cakes. A cakelet pan gives you six small ones. A pull-apart pan gives you a honeycomb you break with your hands. The Nordic Ware pans share the same listed material, so the real choice is shape, cavity count and how much batter each pan holds.
Best overall: Nordic Ware Beehive Cake Pan – two cavities, 10 cups total, and a hive shape that reads clearly once it’s turned out and glazed. Best mini version: Nordic Ware Beehive Cakelet – six cavities and 3 cups total, so you get individual hives instead of one big one. Best pull-apart design: Nordic Ware Honeycomb Pull-Apart Pan – 10 cups in a honeycomb layout, built to be pulled apart by hand rather than sliced.
The rest of this guide walks through all ten pans and the three extras, so you can match the pan to the batch you actually bake.
How We Picked
A listing that showed a hive shape but never said how much batter the pan holds, or how many cavities it has, gave a buyer nothing to plan a recipe around.
The ten Nordic Ware pans here repeat the same core facts: cast aluminum, silicone nonstick, and US manufacturing from domestic and imported materials. That consistency is why the shape and how much batter each one holds are the real tiebreakers.
1. Nordic Ware Beehive Cake Pan
Best for: bakers who want one showpiece hive cake
This is the pan the whole category is named after. It has two cavities and a 10-cup capacity, so you can bake a two-piece hive and stack the halves, or bake two separate hive cakes from one batch. Cast aluminum is the reason the hive ridges come out sharp rather than soft, since the listing says the material gives crisp, intricate detail.
In daily use, that means the pan rewards a recipe that fills it properly. It takes a full Bundt-sized batch, and the two cavities let you split that batch if you’d rather have two smaller cakes. The silicone nonstick is stated as made without PFAS and PTFE, and the listing claims effortless release and cleanup.
This isn’t the pan for someone who wants single-serving cakes. Two cavities means two cakes, and if you need a plate of small hives for a party, you’d be baking in rounds.
Pros
- Two cavities and 10 cups total
- Cast aluminum for crisp hive detail
- Nonstick made without PFAS and PTFE
Cons
- Only two cavities per bake
- Exterior is 16.4 inches long, so it needs a big oven
2. Nordic Ware Beehive Cakelet
Best for: party bakers who want individual hives
The Cakelet is the same hive shape shrunk down and multiplied. Six cavities hold 3 cups of batter in total, which works out to small individual cakes rather than one large one. If you’ve ever wanted a plate of matching mini hives for a shower or a birthday table, this is the pan built for that job.
The trade-off is batter math. The total across the cavities is a small batch, so a standard cake recipe will overfill it unless you scale down. The listing keeps the same cast aluminum body and the same silicone nonstick made without PFAS and PTFE, so the detail and release claims carry over from the larger pan.
Skip this one if you want a centerpiece cake. The individual hives don’t stack into a single tall shape the way the two-cavity pan does.
Pros
- Six cavities for individual servings
- 3-cup total capacity suits small batches
- Same cast aluminum build as the full-size pan
Cons
- 3 cups total means a scaled-down recipe
- Small cakes need shorter bake times to check
3. Nordic Ware Honeycomb Pull-Apart Pan
Best for: bakers who want a shareable pull-apart cake
This pan bakes a honeycomb, not a hive. The batter sits in a honeycomb layout that’s designed to be broken apart by hand, so the finished cake is served in pieces instead of slices. That changes how you use it: you glaze or dust the whole thing, put it in the middle of the table, and let people pull.
Cast aluminum does the work here too. The listing says the material gives crisp, intricate detail and even browning, which matters more than usual when the pan has many small connected cells rather than one smooth curve. The nonstick is stated as made without PFAS and PTFE for release and cleanup.
This isn’t for anyone who wants clean, uniform slices. A pull-apart cake is meant to look broken once people start eating.
Pros
- 10-cup capacity in a honeycomb layout
- Built to be pulled apart by hand
- Cast aluminum for crisp cell detail
Cons
- Serves as torn pieces, not neat slices
- At 12 x 11.6 inches it takes up real shelf space
4. Nordic Ware Honey Hive Loaf
Best for: bakers who want a hive-shaped loaf cake
This one takes the hive idea and puts it in a loaf. A modest amount of batter in an 11.8 x 5.8-inch pan gives you a long cake with hive texture along the top, which slices like a pound cake or a quick bread. If you bake banana bread, lemon loaf or a simple butter cake more often than you bake a Bundt, this shape fits how you already work.
The listing states the same cast aluminum body for crisp detail and even browning, plus silicone nonstick made without PFAS and PTFE. This is a modest capacity, so a standard Bundt recipe needs cutting down. That’s the catch of this pan: it’s a loaf, not a centerpiece.
Anyone who wants a tall domed hive should look at the two-cavity pan instead. This one bakes flat-topped by design.
Pros
- Loaf shape slices like a quick bread
- 6-cup capacity suits smaller recipes
- Cast aluminum with nonstick coating
Cons
- 6 cups only, so recipes need scaling
- Not a domed or stackable hive shape
5. Nordic Ware Busy Bee Bitelet
Best for: bakers making a large batch of tiny cakes
Sixteen cavities and a 1-3/4 cup total capacity mean each cake is a single bite. That’s the point. You get sixteen tiny bee-themed cakes from one bake, which suits candy tables, lunchboxes and party trays where people take one or two.
The math is the thing to plan around. Under two cups of batter across sixteen cavities means each well takes very little, so a piping bag or a careful spoon is easier than pouring from a bowl. The listing keeps the cast aluminum body and the silicone nonstick made without PFAS and PTFE.
This isn’t a pan for anyone who wants a slice of cake. Sixteen bites don’t add up to a dessert portion.
Pros
- 16 cavities for a big batch of bites
- Cast aluminum for crisp small detail
- Nonstick made without PFAS and PTFE
Cons
- 1-3/4 cups total, so each well is tiny
- Filling 16 small wells takes patience
6. Nordic Ware Original Bundt
Best for: bakers who want the standard Bundt shape
This is the classic. A 10.5-inch diameter and 12-cup capacity give it the batter volume to handle the plain fluted Bundt shape most recipes are written for. If you own one cake pan and want it to handle any Bundt recipe without scaling, this is the one the numbers point to.
The extra room against the smaller pans on this list is the difference between following a recipe as printed and doing arithmetic. The listing states cast aluminum for crisp detail and even browning, and silicone nonstick made without PFAS and PTFE. Nothing here is hive-shaped, so if the beehive look is the whole reason you’re shopping, this pan won’t give it to you.
It’s also 3.8 inches tall, which is worth checking against your oven rack before you commit.
Pros
- 12-cup capacity
- Classic fluted Bundt shape
- Cast aluminum with nonstick coating
Cons
- No hive or honeycomb detail
- 3.8 inches tall, so check rack clearance
7. Nordic Ware Heritage Bundt
Best for: bakers who want a swirled, elegant cake
The Heritage Bundt trades hive cells for a swirl. Ten cups of batter in a 10-inch pan, with a design the listing describes as heirloom-quality and American made since 1946. The swirl catches glaze in a way a flat pan doesn’t, so a simple drizzle looks deliberate.
The listing states cast aluminum for crisp, intricate detail and even browning, plus silicone nonstick free of PFAS and PTFE. Ten cups is the same capacity as the beehive and honeycomb pans here, so recipes move between them without much adjustment.
This isn’t the pick for anyone set on a bee theme. The swirl is elegant, but it doesn’t read as a hive, and it’s a single-cavity pan.
Pros
- 10-cup capacity, matches other pans here
- Swirl design holds glaze well
- Cast aluminum with nonstick coating
Cons
- No hive or honeycomb shape
- Single cavity, so one cake per bake
8. Nordic Ware Jubilee Bundt
Best for: bakers making a celebration cake
The Jubilee is a 10-cup Bundt in a gold finish, and the listing keeps its facts short: cast aluminum for baking performance, 10 cups of batter, 11 x 5.56 x 2.13 inches, made in the USA. That leaves less to go on beyond the shape and the capacity.
What the numbers tell you is that it’s a wide, shallow pan. At 2.13 inches tall it bakes a flatter cake than the 3.6 and 3.8-inch pans here, which suits a layer you plan to top or a cake you want to cut into even portions for a crowd.
It’s not for anyone who wants deep hive detail. The listing doesn’t describe a hive or honeycomb pattern, and the shallow depth limits how much relief any design can hold.
Pros
- 10-cup capacity for standard recipes
- Made in the USA
- Wide, shallow shape cuts evenly
Cons
- Listing gives fewer detail claims than others
- 2.13 inches deep, so a flatter bake
9. Nordic Ware Crown Bundt
Best for: bakers who want an ornate anniversary design
The Crown Bundt is the 70th anniversary pan, and the listing says the design came from the brand’s Scandinavian roots, combining old-world patina with bold panache. It’s cast aluminum, oven safe to 400 degrees, and holds 10 cups. Those are the facts the seller gives, and they’re enough to plan a bake around.
The 400-degree limit is the number worth noting, and it’s stated in the listing. Ten cups matches the other full-size pans here, so recipes move across without much fuss.
This isn’t for a buyer who wants a plain pan. The Crown is a decorative shape, and the listing leans on that design rather than on hive or honeycomb detail.
Pros
- 10-cup capacity
- Oven safe to 400 degrees
- Cast aluminum with an ornate design
Cons
- No hive or honeycomb pattern
- Decorative shape needs careful greasing
10. Nordic Ware Bundt Squared
Best for: bakers who want a modern square cake
Bundt Squared takes the fluted ring and squares it off. Ten cups of batter in an 8.5 x 8.5-inch pan, which is a smaller footprint than the round 10.5-inch pans here and easier to fit on a crowded shelf or in a smaller oven.
Square corners change how you serve it. You get even slices with edges rather than wedges. The 3.6-inch depth matches the deeper pans on this list, so it bakes a tall cake.
This isn’t the pan for a bee-themed table. The squared shape is modern and clean, and it has nothing to do with hives.
Pros
- 10-cup capacity in a square shape
- 8.5-inch footprint fits smaller ovens
- Cast aluminum with nonstick coating
Cons
- No hive or honeycomb detail
- Square corners need careful release
Also Worth Considering
Three more pans showed up in the search but didn’t make the main list. The Pack Honeycomb Bee Cake Pan is a two-pack of 10-cup honeycomb pans, so you’d get two molds in one order. The Honeycomb 17-Hole Silicone Baking Cake is a silicone mold with 17 holes, a different material from the cast aluminum pans above. The 3D 19-Hole Dessert Cake Pan is also silicone, with 19 holes, and the title lists uses beyond cake, including soap and chocolate molds. None of the three listings gave us the depth of detail the ten picks did, so we’ve kept them here rather than ranked them.
How to Choose in Sixty Seconds
How many cups of batter does my recipe need?
Check the recipe first, then match it to a pan. The pans here run from 1-3/4 cups in the Busy Bee Bitelet up to 12 cups in the Original Bundt. Most full-size Bundt recipes are written for 10 to 12 cups, so a 10-cup pan like the Beehive Cake Pan, the Honeycomb Pull-Apart Pan or the Crown Bundt takes a standard batch with room to spare. A 6-cup loaf or a 3-cup cakelet pan needs the recipe scaled down, or you’ll overfill and spill.
Do I want one big cake or several small ones?
That’s the real fork in this list. Single-cavity pans give you one cake: the Original Bundt, the Heritage Bundt, the Crown Bundt, the Jubilee Bundt and Bundt Squared all bake one at a time. Two-cavity pans give you two from one batch. The cakelet pans go further, with six cavities in the Beehive Cakelet and sixteen in the Busy Bee Bitelet. If you’re baking for a crowd and want individual servings, the cavity count matters more than anything else on the page.
What should I check before I order?
Confirm three things. First, the exterior size against your oven and your cupboard, since these run from 8.5 inches square up to 16.4 inches long. Second, the capacity in cups, so your recipe fits. Third, the coating and the material claims in the listing, because cast aluminum and silicone nonstick behave differently from thin steel or plain silicone molds.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of batter works best in these pans?
Any cake batter that holds a shape works, because the detail comes from the pan, not the recipe. A standard butter cake, a pound cake or a boxed mix all take the molded shape well. Very light, airy batters with a lot of whipped egg white can slump and blur fine detail.
What goes wrong first with a molded cake?
The Nordic Ware Beehive Cake Pan and the other cast aluminum pans here all state a silicone nonstick coating, which is what makes the hive ridges and honeycomb cells come out clean.
Is the simplest pan on this list enough?
Yes, for most bakers. The Nordic Ware Original Bundt holds 12 cups and its plain fluted shape takes any standard Bundt recipe without scaling. If you bake once a month and want one pan that always fits the recipe, it does the job.
Closing
For most people, the Nordic Ware Beehive Cake Pan is the pick: two cavities, 10 cups, and a hive shape that reads clearly on the table. If you’d rather serve individual cakes, the Nordic Ware Beehive Cakelet gives you six small hives from one small batch, and the Nordic Ware Honeycomb Pull-Apart Pan is the one to grab if you want a cake people break apart by hand. Pick your shape, check the capacity against your recipe, then tap through to Amazon for today’s details.