On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 20:37:21 GMT
"Vox Humana" wrote:


I never have problems releasing cans from their pans. You don't have to
fool around with boiling water or other BS. First of all, I can't ever
remember reading a recipe with instructions to spray the pan with a light
coating of oil.


Come on, it says so right on the back of the box, even specifies PAM
sometimes :-)


The instructions universally say to butter or grease the
pan. Here is what I do. I grease the pan with solid shortening. Then,
I line the bottom with parchment cut to fit the pan. Then I grease the
parchment and add some flour. I shake the pan to distribute the flour
and turn it over, dump the flour, and tap the pan on a surface to release
the extra flour. My cans always release. For pans that you can't line
with parchment, like a bundt pan, you need to use a GENEROUS coating of
solid shortening and then follow with flour. You can't be skimpy with
the shortening. If you want to streamline the process a bit, you can


I've met bakers (probably related to some, don't recall) who keep around
a few boxes of cake mix for the purpose of dusting with something other
than plain white flour.

I've been dusting brownie pans with cocoa for a while, it works well. I
was afraid that the bitterness of my non-dutch-process cocoa powder was
going to end up being too bitter on the tongue, but somehow it's not an
issue.



Unfortunately, i have a couple years of technical support experience
under my belt, and try as i might to suppress those memories, I am forced
by my training to point out something that should be obvious. It's not
because, on a rational level, I've made a logical decision that the OP is
ignorant - it's just habit.

Cakes are a bit easier to release from their pans when fully cooled. The
OP *was letting it cool fully before flipping it out, right? It's easy to
get impatient.

I also suspect that super-emulsified cake mixes (duncan hines, etc) make
cakes that tear more easily, or are more sticky, or something.