Ceramic Baking Sheet vs Square Nonstick Easy Release Carbon Steel Cake Pan: which is safer?

Caraway Ceramic Baking Sheet is the clear pick. Hamilton Beach Square Nonstick Easy Release Carbon Steel Cake Pan carries a failing PFAS grade, and we never recommend buying a failing product.

Our pick

Caraway Ceramic Baking Sheet

Caraway

Ceramic Baking Sheet

PFAS grade

Excellent 100/100

Overall grade

Excellent 88/100

Verdict

Buy

Hazard flags

⚑ 3

Material

not stated

Confidence

80%

PossibleCoating degradation and metal substrate exposure

PossibleAluminum substrate leaching (if aluminum core)

PossibleThermal shock and coating fracturing

Hamilton Beach Square Nonstick Easy Release Carbon Steel Cake Pan

Hamilton Beach

Square Nonstick Easy Release Carbon Steel Cake Pan

PFAS grade

Bad 15/100

Overall grade

Bad 0/100

Verdict

Skip

Hazard flags

⚑ 4

Material

Carbon steel with nonstick coating (type unspecified)

Confidence

45%

PossibleTeflon-type coating fume inhalation risk (nonstick degradation)

PossibleCoating flaking and ingestion

ReportedThermal stability of undisclosed coating at high temperatures

Where these two actually differ

  • We flag Coating degradation and metal substrate exposure, Aluminum substrate leaching (if aluminum core) and Thermal shock and coating fracturing on the Caraway and not on the Hamilton Beach.
  • We flag PTFE fume inhalation risk (nonstick degradation), Coating flaking and ingestion, Thermal stability of undisclosed coating at high temperatures and Brand transparency and accountability gap on the Hamilton Beach and not on the Caraway.
  • The gap is 85 points, wide enough that this is not a close call, and the Caraway is the one to buy.
  • We are less certain about the Hamilton Beach grade, at 45% confidence against 80%, because it discloses less.

Both products run through the same public rubric: materials, coatings, brand disclosure, lab findings, and recalls, plus a beyond-PFAS hazard analysis. Grades are model-based estimates, not lab tests. How grades work →

More bakeware: see the full ranking