Today we’ll talk about one of the most aggravating aspects of cake baking: when your cake gets stuck in the pan. I mean, just as you’re drooling over how beautifully your cake has swelled up and baked through, you realize you can’t remove it. How aggravating is that?

You’d think a couple taps here and there would get it out, but no. With just one false move, your cake may actually break apart. It is critical for a baker to understand how to remove a cake from its pan.

My name is Angie, and I’ve been baking for over ten years. I’m a self-taught baker. Every time you bake, it’s not all fun and games. I had to cope with a lot of baking mistakes and disappointments before I figured out how to prevent them.

In this post, I’ll show you how I remove the cake out of the pan without it crumbling into a million bits. And I’ll show you a couple alternative approaches.

Continue reading to learn how to prevent this cake catastrophe!

How to Get Cake Out of Pan?

Prepare for a lengthy response to your inquiry. Here are six methods for getting cake out of a pan, ranging from the simplest and fastest for lightly stuck cakes to more thorough solutions for significantly stuck cakes.

1. Cooling Cake

Cooling your cake is generally an essential operation before removing the cake, regardless of what cake you are creating.

This is due to the fact that when a cake is fresh out of the oven and still hot, you can barely touch the cake tin, and since the cake has completely expanded owing to the heat, it will most likely adhere to the pan.

Allow your cake to cool for a few minutes. It will reduce in size and naturally release from the pan as it cools, particularly if you use a nonstick pan or have oiled your pan before adding the cake batter.

2. Tap the Cake

It is possible to have more hard cake borders depending on how you prepared your cake pan and the cake recipe.

Chiffon cakes, for example, have a very low fat content as compared to butter cakes, and the pans are normally not oiled to enable the cake to climb up the sides of the cake pan for added height.

In this scenario, you may wish to assist it by tapping your cake on the side. This is, of course, when the cake has totally cooled. We don’t want you to burn your hands right now.

3. Slide a Knife Through

When in doubt, don’t be afraid to employ force.

It’s all a joke. Please do not do so. Use your knife, but do it with care. In fact, I like to use a palette knife with a blunt edge to avoid scratching the cake pan and cutting through the cake.

When you’re ready, run your knife around the edge of the cake. The knife will assist in cleanly removing the cake from the pan without risking portions of the edge being stuck to the pan and being dragged off by it.

4. Warm the Sides

Counterintuitive I know, but I find that this approach works particularly well with chocolate cakes.

Warming the sides AFTER the cake has cooled will heat up the sugar and fat that may still be sticking your cake to the pan, which is why this procedure works.

It is important to note that you are just warming the edges of the cake and not the whole cake. You may accomplish this by wrapping a heated cloth over the outside of your cake pan.

I wouldn’t advocate immersing your cake pan in boiling water since water might seep into the pan and result in a soggy cake.

5. Nuke it

Nuking things seems to be a popular baking tip on this site. It simply sounds so much more interesting than the mundane microwave version. But, absolutely, that is precisely what I mean.

Please do not nuke your cake with the cake tin before proceeding, otherwise you may create an explosion.

Instead, throw a bowl of water in your microwave and cook it until you have enough steam in your microwave.

Then, insert your cake tin inside, shut it, and softly steam it. The water particles will wet your cake and soften the hard edges, making removal much simpler.

You don’t want to accidentally nuke somebody, so keep an eye on your microwave at all times.

6. Freeze it

If all else fails, go freeze that cake. You won’t be able to consume your cake in the following several hours if you utilize this strategy.

This is a time-consuming procedure, but it is effective. The rationale for freezing the cake is straightforward. When the cake is firm, it is far less likely to shatter when you attempt to cut or remove it.

Allow your cake to firm fully before sliding a knife through it. You may do the same with the cake’s bottom, and I guarantee it will remain intact.

FAQs

Here are some often asked questions about removing cake from a pan. I’ve addressed them for you here.

How to prevent cake from sticking to the pan?

The easiest technique to keep your cake from sticking to the pan is to thoroughly prepare it before baking. It is critical to establish a decent barrier between the batter and the cake pan.

Should you wait for cake to cool before removing from the pan?

Wait until your cake has fully cooled before removing it from the pan. If it isn’t, the high or uneven temperature might cause parts of your cake to break off, destroying the cake’s appearance.

What happens if you overfill a cake pan?

Overfilling a cake pan is a major baking sin. Nothing good comes from it, and you should avoid it at all costs. Overfilling a cake pan can cause the batter to overflow when the cake expands, resulting in a lot of batter loss, a volcano mess in the oven, and an unsightly uneven cake top.

Can you use PAM to grease and flour a cake pan?

Yes, you can oil your cake pan with PAM. For the greatest results, I recommend using PAM baking spray, which already includes flour.

Can you use salted butter to grease a pan?

When it comes to greasing characteristics, salted and unsalted butter are interchangeable. The only difference is the saltiness that comes with salted butter, which I don’t mind and really like, but to each his own! To oil your pan, see this page for an alternative for unsalted butter.

Final Thoughts

I hope you found this to be a basic and easy instruction. Remember that whatever baking mistake you made, others have most certainly done it before you, so don’t worry since remedies are right around the corner.

Did you able to get your cake out of the pan? How did you come to do it? Are there any techniques you employed that I didn’t mention? I’m sure we’re all eager to learn from you, so please let us know.

About Angie