Baking Essentials: Preparing Cake Pans

I love baking cakes, they can be be a simple affair such a yellow cake or you can pull out all the stops by layering, filling and frosting the cake. Sometimes you can use shortcuts, sometimes you have to do multiple steps to achieve the oomph factor. However, one thing you have to do is to properly prepare the cake pan. The preparation of the cake is very important to make sure that the cake does not stick to the pan and is released easily without any damages.


You will need:
The cake pan
Parchment paper
Pencil
Non stick spray or butter
Flour if you are making a yellow cake
Cocoa powder if you making chocolate cake

Instructions:
The first 4 steps are the same for any kind of cake. 

1. Place the pan on the parchment cake and with a pencil mark the circumference of the pan

2. Cut the circle out. Make one for each cake pan.

3. Spray or butter the pan.

4. Place the cut pieces inside the cake pan. Make sure that you put the side with the pencil marking facing down. You don't want any marking on the side that touches the cake.

5. Spray or butter the parchment paper again.

6. Since I am making a chocolate cake, I will dust the pan with cocoa powder. If I was making a yellow cake, I will dust it with flour. just add about 2 tablespoons.

7. Using both hands, shake the pan to spread the flour or cocoa. Evenly and remove excess by turning over the pan. I usually dump the excess in the other pan if I am preparing two or more pans.

If you are using a square or rectangular pan, you can cut your parchment paper to fit the length of your pan, leaving about a 2-inch overhang on both sides. The sides of the cake will not stick to the pan and you will have two  handles to easily lift out the cake.
The cake pan is prepared now and ready to receive any cake mixture. I guarantee that your cake will not stick to the pan. Good things come to those who wait!

Nadine