I told you guys on Facebook yesterday that I was working on some tutorials for RoseBakes.com, and here's the first one: How to Line a Round Cake Pan with Parchment Paper {Perfectly & Easily!}!
Actually, this might be more of a great tip vs. a tutorial but either way, it's awesome!
A little back story first... I originally shared this way back in May 2010. It was a huge hit then and since it fit perfectly here, I decided to re-shoot the pics and share it with all of my fellow bakers and cake fans!
So, a couple of years ago when I started doing cakes, I always just sprayed my pans with non-stick spray to prevent sticking...sometimes it worked, sometimes not. But then I discovered that parchment paper works miracles for preventing cakes from sticking (I know the rest of the world has known this for ages, I'm just hard-headed), I've been using it for almost every cake I bake! However, cutting all those circles can be a pain.
Until I discovered this little tip. One day back in 2010, my son Joshua saw me struggling to get a perfect circle to line my round cake pan. He stopped me and told me to try it this way! Yep, occasionally he's smarter than me, but we're not going to tell him that!. I think he saw it on the Food Network. Maybe you've all seen this before, but it is just ingenious to me!
Today I was using a 6" round Magic Line cake pan (one of my two favorite brands!).
Start with a square piece of parchment paper that just barely covers your round pan.
Then take that square and fold it in half diagonally.
And fold it in half again and again until you have a small pointy triangle shaped piece of parchment paper...
Now, flip your round pan upside down and lay your triangle on your pan with the center point of the triangle at the center of your pan.
Then cut off the excess, to make it smooth with the pan (or slightly inside the edge of the pan - I trimmed a little more off of mine).
P.S. This fine manicure job that you keep witnessing...that's courtesy of my 6 year old son Noah! I couldn't be prouder!
Then when you unfold it, it is a perfect circle for lining your cake pan!
You may notice now that the sides of my pan are now covered in Baker's Joy. I always spray a little non-stick spray in the bottom of my pan for the parchment to stick to and I cover the sides of my pans with it! Since I took these pics when I was really about to bake a cake, you can see it in my pictures!
See...it's perfect! And this works for me!!
Visit Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family for more great tips!
Lisa Reid
Rose,
Thanks for the great tips.. but I have to ask a question on the parchment paper. I have used it before and the parchment paper stuck to my cake and pulled cake off with the paper when I removed it!!! What did I do wrong? Did I miss a step?
Rose
I'm not sure! I usually let my cakes cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then flip them out onto a cooling rack and peel the parchment off. Occasionally if my cakes are slightly underdone, it'll peal off a thin layer of the cake (I mean super thin...like the very outer crusty part), but that's pretty rare! I've never had it tear my cake.
Eftychia
Very interesting post. It is amazing how easy this way is...
Rosario carrillo
I was struggling to get the size sometimes to big or to small thanks to you and your son now is easy for me..
Sharon Athanasiou
I love this...thank you (as usual) xx 🙂
PS...when cake sticks to parchment it's usually for one of two reasons: 1) Cake did not cool enough or 2) Cake was not cooked enough
Julie
I've always just put the tin on the paper and drawn round it with a pencil. This could be much quicker so I'll give it a try.
I'm wondering if your other commenter was using baking parchment or greaseproof paper (they might be UK names for them though) greaseproof paper can stick sometimes, but baking parchment is fab and never sticks.
Rose Atwater
Maybe so! Thanks 🙂
ColleenB.~Texas
Nice tutorial but I just trace around the bottom of my pan and cut out which makes for perfect fit each and every time.
When I use parchment paper to line a pan; not only do I grease the bottom of the pan but I also grease the parchment paper to keep the cake from sticking once it's time to remove cake from pan. Paper peels right off.
I don't like using sprays on my pans so I mix and use my own homemade solution to grease my pans