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Baking is not for the faint of heart. We’ve all been there: you mix up baking powder for baking soda, forget a key ingredient like sugar, or forget to set a timer. And even if you’ve measured out and measured everything correctly, the finished product may stick to the pan. All that work for an unpresentable cake?
Instead of scrapping away pieces or, worse, throwing out the entire cake and starting over, we have a hack that will almost certainly get that chocolate cake out of the pan and ready to be frosted.
Delish food editor Makinze Gore has a foolproof trick for removing a stuck cake from a pan without ruining it.
Why does the cake stick to the pan?
Even a perfectly oiled nonstick pan can sometimes be problematic. And when it comes to Bundt cakes, the abnormal shape isn’t ideal for using parchment paper.
Besides an improperly greased pan, one of the reasons baked goods may stick is because they have cooled too much in their pan. We recommend letting a cake cool for about 15 minutes. Then remove it from the pan and let it cool a little more.
“As it cools, the sugar and fat will start to harden, and that’s what will cause the mixture to stick to your pan,” Gore said.
How to Remove a Stuck Cake from the Pan
If you let your cake sit in the pan a little too long and you’re having trouble removing it, the key is to warm it up. Heating the pan will raise the temperature of the sugars and fats in the cake.
To do this, fill a large pot with hot water and submerge the pan in it for a few seconds. You can also wrap a warm, damp towel around the bottom of the pan. Before flipping the cake, Gore recommends running an offset spatula or small paring knife along the edges to make sure the cake doesn’t stick.
To flip the cake, make sure you have a cooling rack or baking sheet handy. Place it on top of the pan and flip the cake onto the rack or sheet.
More tips and tricks for baking
Whether you’re baking a simple sheet cake or an elaborate birthday cake, you’ll need the best tools and supplies. Check out our picks for the best measuring cups and our must-have cookie sheets.
Have you ever started measuring out ingredients for a batch of cupcakes or banana bread, only to realize you were missing an ingredient? Here are our recommendations for common baking substitutions:
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