Baking with Cake Pans

Baking with Cake Pans – by AllCookingTips

Many a baking failure can be traced to using the wrong pan. So before you begin making a cake, make sure that you have the right pan for the job. Many recipes call for parchment paper, but any liner will actually do: aluminum foil, waxed paper, even a cut-up brown paper bag.

To line a round pan, use the pan as a template. Tear off a sheet of paper or foil that is bigger than the bottom of the pan you are lining. Place the pan, right side up, on the liner. Using a pencil, draw a line around the perimeter of the bottom of the pan. Cut just inside the line to make a circular liner. Set the liner in the pan.

When lining the bottom and sides of a round pan, turn the pan upside down. Tear a sheet of foil large enough to overlap the bottom of the pan by several inches on all sides. Carefully mold the foil over the outside of the pan. Then, remove the foil, invert the pan, and insert the molded foil liner into the pan. Smooth the liner into place.

To line a tube pan, tear off a sheet of paper or foil that is bigger than the bottom of the pan you are lining. Place the pan, right side up, on the liner. Using a pencil, draw a line around the perimeter of the bottom of the pan. Then, invert the pan and place the liner on top, lining up the pan bottom with the line you just drew. Carefully draw another line around the perimeter of the pan’s inner circle (the inside of the tube). Cut just inside both lines drawn to make a ring-shaped liner. Set the liner in the pan.

To line a springform pan, tear off a sheet of foil larger than the bottom of the pan. Place the pan bottom, upside down, onto the foil. Invert both pan bottom and foil, then loosely tuck the overhang of foil underneath the pan bottom. Secure the lined bottom in the springform ring and fold the excess foil up the outside of the ring. Lining the bottom of springform pan this way helps the cake slide out easily, reduces leaking from an ill-fitting bottom, and protects the contents of the pan if the cake needs to be baked in a water bath.

If greasing is required, just turn a small zipper-lock plastic bag inside out, then place it on your hand like a glove. Smear shortening or butter on the bottom and sides of the pan with your fingers. When done, seal any remaining shortening or butter in the bag and store, refrigerated, until the next time you need it. Or you can use the butter wrapper – there is always some butter that adheres to the inside of the wrapper, which makes a perfect wipe for applying butter over the sides and bottom of the pan. If greasing a pan with butter, use only unsalted butter. Salted butter will cause cakes to stick. Another alternative is to use cooking spray.

To bake heavy, dense batters such as pound cake, use a tube pan. It’s designed to conduct heat toward the center of the batter, allowing the cake to rise and bake evenly.

If you use a shiny cake pan, which will reflect the oven’s heat, you can make a more tender cake. Whereas to make a delicate cake with a tender crust, avoid iron or black steel pans, which will cause a heavy crust to form on the sides of the cake.

To solve the problems of cakes sticking to the pan, grease the pan with vegetable shortening instead of butter. Unlike butter or margarine, shortening contains no water, which can cause batters to stick. Shortening can also withstand higher temperatures than butter.

If you need to make a too-big cake pan smaller, just use foil, make a smaller pan inside the pan that you have. Line the pan with foil, folding the foil into a lip at the points where you want the pan edges to be. Fill the space between the foil edge and the pan edge with dried beans.