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Prepare Baking Pans |
Properly preparing your
baking pan is one of the important keys to successful baking. Generally,
the way in which they are prepared varies by the type of recipe--you can
use oil, butter, shortening or pan spray. Foam cake pans are not prepared,
such as for Angel Food or Sponge Cakes. These types of batters need to
literally climb up the pan's surface to rise and the grease makes it too
slippery for them to do so. Also fat deflates the delicate foams. |
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HOW TO PREPARE A CAKE PAN: |
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the baking pan(s) and put them aside before you mix the recipe's ingredients
-- for best results, all batters must be baked right away after mixing,
unless the recipe specifies otherwise. This is especially true when making
delicate batters such as foam cakes as they can deflate easily. Recipes made
with baking soda and baking powder also need to be baked right away after
mixing. They release their leavening power as soon as they are moistened
when the ingredients mixed; if the batter sits around before baking, you
have a good chance for a flat, dense and flavorless cake.
NOTE: Do NOT spray NON-stick pans with
vegetable oil spray.
" Residues form when the oil component in cooking spray
polymerizes as a result of high heat cooking. This polymerization occurs
with retail oil products as well. The residue is generally more of a
problem with non stick cookware due to the fact that the dark coating
causes pans to attain higher temperatures faster. They also cool very
quickly when removed from the heat source, which does not allow much time
for clean-up of the residue when it is still warm and easier to remove
with soap and water.
When completely cooled on a pan this residue becomes a hard glaze which is
hard to remove without ruining a non-stick surface. We recommend reducing
cooking temperatures or cooking times when using non-stick sprays on non
stick cookware. The cooking spray should be applied only where it will be
in contact with the food i.e. don't spray on the side of the pan.
Also cookware should be cleaned with soap and water as soon as possible
after cooking to remove any residue which may be present."
From Con Agra (Pam
manufacturer) posted on egullet.com
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 Q: Sometimes a
recipe will just say "prepare the pan" or "use a prepared pan", what does
that mean? A: It means
that you put some sort of coating on it so the batter or dough won't stick
when baked, making the baked good easy to remove afterwards. |
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PREPARE
PANS WITH...For best results, use Professional
Grease Professional Grease to prepare pans with. However, if you like
what you've been using, stick with it. |
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TYPE: |
COMMENTS: |
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Butter |
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Great taste |
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I like to melt or just use
softened butter and "paint" on with a pastry brush or rub on with a
piece of waxed paper. |
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Makes a dark, crustier crust |
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Clarified Butter |
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No taste |
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Does not burn as easily. |
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Vegetable Oil
Pan Spray |
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Quick and easy |
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Great for low-fat recipes |
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Shortening |
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Does not burn easily |
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Imparts no taste |
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Preferred by most bakers |
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Professional or Baker's Grease: equal parts of
Crisco shortening, oil, and
flour. (For a large amount, use 1 cup
each) |
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It
is usually sold in cake supply stores, but you can mix your own.
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Mix ingredients in a mixer
with a beater attachment, until light and fluffy. |
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Use a pastry
brush to apply the grease on the inside of your pan |
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No need to
follow up with a flour sprinkling. |
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Store it in an
airtight container in the refrigerator. |
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Bread Crumbs |
From Maida Heatter’s Cakes, a Bundt pan hint:
Butter the pan (nonstick or not), getting into all of the fluted parts and
including the center tube. Then dust the entire buttered surface with fine,
dry bread crumbs (the kind you can buy in a cardboard can at the supermarket
or you can make yourself). Include the center tube in the dusting, too, by
turning the pan on its side and slowly rotating it while you drizzle crumbs
on the tube from your fingers. Invert the pan and shake out excess crumbs.
Then fill and bake; when you turn the pan over, the whole cake drops right
out, pretty as you please. |
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Flour
and/or Cocoa Powder (for Chocolate
Cakes) |
For extra insurance, a flour coating is used,
especially with thin batters or those made with chocolate, fruits and
nuts. These batters are notoriously sticky and need the flour to keep the
caramelized sugars from sticking to the pans. When baking a chocolate cake,
use a mixture of 1/3 part flour and 2/3 part cocoa powder (sift together) so it won't show on the sides of the layers when unmolded.
You’ll need to sprinkle about 2 tablespoons
of flour or a mixture of flour and cocoa inside an 8- or 9-inch cake pan and shake to coat all
greased surfaces. Use a strainer when applying cocoa powder because it
doesn't act like flour does; it easily sticks and clumps in the pan. To do,
hold the strainer over the pan and sprinkle cocoa all over.
Turn pan upside down to tap out the
excess. |
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PREPARE PANS WITH SUPPLIES: |
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Parchment or waxed paper |
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I prefer to use parchment
paper versus waxed paper to line pans. To make a good fit, place pan on
top of parchment paper, trace around the pan and cut it out. Fit it to
an already greased pan and grease again. Waxed paper doesn't hold up as
well; it gets soggy when used in the bottom of cake or loaf pans. |
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Waxed paper cannot be used
to line cookie sheets with as exposed areas smoke or burn in the oven.
Use aluminum foil, instead. |
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Foil sling (I don't
like this method. My recipes stick too much to the foil) |
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Make a sling for a loaf or
brownies by laying long, wide strips of foil or even parchment paper
across the length and width of the pan so the paper hangs over the
edges. They work the best if you make the paper the same width as the
pan where it will be used. |
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Use the overlap as a handy
grip when its time to remove the loaf from the pan. |
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TO GREASE OR NOT TO GREASE CHART...
Make sure your recipe
requires a greased pan before
you pour in the batter and bake. Some batters, such as Sponge and Angel Food
Cakes, need ungreased pans so the batter can cling to and climb up the sides
of the pan; if greased, the batter slips and slides, leaving the cakes dense
and flat. |
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TYPE OF CAKE: |
COMMENTS: |
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Butter
cakes and
Genoise |
Need greased
pans, and often, many also flour the pan. I like to use both shortening and
all-purpose flour. |
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Sponge,
Angel food,
Chiffon
and other foam cakes |
Not generally
greased because fat can deflate their delicate foams. |
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Fluted or
bundt
Pans |
Cakes always
tend to stick to these pans. I like to use
Professional Grease so they don't. Or, dust with flour after being
liberally greased; I like to use a pastry brush to spread the room
temperature Professional Grease, butter or shortening evenly in the pan. |
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Cake molds |
I like to use
Professional Grease. Or, coat them
first with a layer of shortening, which works best with molded pans or with
melted butter. Then, dust the pan with a sprinkling of flour |
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Cake
mixes |
When a cake mix calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake
mix instead, no flour mess on the outside of the cake. |
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Chocolate cakes |
When a cake mix calls for flouring the baking pan, use sifted cocoa powder
instead of flour. There's no mess on the outside of the cake. |
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Cookies |
Read recipe carefully, as some need greased pans and other don't. If not,
sure lining with parchment paper always works well. |
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Quick-breads |
Need greased pans. For best results, use a parchment or waxed paper liner in
the bottom of the pan. |
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Pies |
Because there
is so much shortening in a piecrust, pans usually need not be greased or
floured, unless specified otherwise. Doing so would ruin the recipe. |
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STEP-BY-STEP: HOW TO GREASE A
CAKE PAN |
1. Grease a baking pan
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2. Use a liner to ensure the cake coming out of the pan.
Grease on top of the liner. |
3.
Pin Magic Cake Strips in place. |
4.
After filling pan, bang the pan straight down a few times on the countertop
to eliminate air bubbles. |
 If
you want to apply an extra thick layer of grease in the pan or if the recipe
directs you to, here's how to do it: grease the pan, pop it in the freezer
for 5 to 10 minutes to set, and then apply a second light coating. This way
you'll get a thicker coating. |
1.
GREASE:
The quickest way to prepare pans for baking is to "grease
it". Not all recipes call for greasing the
pans, so check my chart,
above
to make sure. Greasing is to put an even layer of softened butter, margarine or
shortening, etc. on the inside of the pan. Make sure you get all of the nooks
and crannies, especially important when using decorative pans. Even out any
uneven amounts very lightly with a paper towel.
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With
a chocolate recipe, dust with sifted cocoa powder instead of using flour. |
FLOUR THE PAN:
Some recipes call for lightly flouring the pan. Use 1 - 2 tablespoons flour from
your flour container, not the recipe. Except when making a chocolate cake, use
sifted cocoa powder instead, so white specs from the flour won't show on the
outside of the darkly colored cake.
2.
Sometimes recipes
call for greasing the cake pans and then covering the bottom of the pan with
parchment or waxed paper and to grease again.
For extra insurance, a flour coating is used.
The paper is important to
ensure that light and delicate cakes turn out of the pan easily without cracking
or breaking (If they break, don't worry too much. With a little patience
frosting can work small miracles). How to:
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Place a piece of parchment or waxed paper, a little large than the pan's
diameter, on a countertop. |
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Place pan on top, and then trace around the base with a pencil. |
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Cut
out paper inside the line with scissors. |
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Grease the pan.
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Place liner in and
grease
again. Optionally apply flour.
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To bake even layers, my best fix for
this is to wrap the outside of the cake pan with a damp towel strip and pin
in place BEFORE filling with batter.
This insulates the cake pan and allows the cake batter to bake evenly,
resulting in a nice evenly baked cake. You can buy the
Magic Cake Strips for
wrapping your pan, but I find that a homemade one works just as well: Make a
2-inch wide strip from an old heavy bath towel, soaked in cold water and
just wrung out and then wrap tightly around the pan, pin in place and bake
as usual. Remove the wrap after the cake has rested in the pan 5 minutes and
your cake layers should be even! -Tami |
3. Optionally
wrap the pan with
Magi-cake Strips
(see picture #3, above) which prevents the cake
from doming when baking.
4.
Right after mixing the batter, pour the batter
from the mixing bowl into the prepared pans. (How
to portion the batter, equally). If the batter is very thick,
scoop it into the pan. Make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl to get every
last drop. You'll be surprised how much there is left.
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For
all recipes:
When your recipe is done, remove from the oven and
place on a wire cake rack. Let cool for 10 minutes before unmolding from a
pan or taking from a cookie sheet, otherwise it has the tendency to crack
and fall apart from being too warm.
Unmold and peel-off parchment or waxed paper, if applicable, and invert to
right-side-up to cool. |
The pan should be filled to only about half to
2/3rds full, or as specified in the recipe. You need to make sure the batter has
room to expand in the oven. Ideally it should NOT be filled much less than 1/2
or if you use a pan that is too deep, the top of the cake will not bake and
brown evenly and the cake may burn and be tough.
After filling pan, bang the pan
straight down a few times on the countertop to eliminate air bubbles. Place in
the middle of the middle shelf in a well-preheated oven to bake.
When recipe comes from the oven,
let it sit for 10 minutes to cool in its pan. Then unmold, also known as remove
from pan: first, run a thin knife to loosen the edge of the baked good from the
pan. Then, place a wire rack over the top of it
and with a hand on each side of the baking pan and rack, quickly invert. Gently
shake or tap the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon handle to help remove the
baked good. Carefully peel off the liner and turn baked good
right-side-up to cool on a wire cake rack.
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HOW TO PREPARE A
COOKIE
SHEET: |
Grease cookie sheets only if you
want the cookies to spread or the recipe calls for it.
If you don't want your cookies
to spread or they are difficult to remove from a baking pan, line the pans with
parchment paper. Parchment
is coated on both sides with silicone, which prevent cookies from sticking.
Don't use wax paper as a cookie
sheet liner, since its exposed surfaces can smoke and burn. If you don't
have parchment paper, greased aluminum foil works second best.
There are benefits to
lining the pan with parchment paper: you can pre-place the cookie dough on the
paper, and chill, if necessary. You can then slide the entire sheet with dough
on the cooled cookie sheet. When done, simply slide the entire sheet to the wire
cake rack to cool on the paper. Remove when cooled or, let sit for 3 - 5
minutes, before removing cookies to the rack to cool thoroughly -- with butter
based cookies you don't have to remove until cooled. But also, I don't
object to the fact that I hardly ever have to wash a cookie sheet.
The large sheets are twice as large as most
cookies sheets. I fold them in half, and then with a large, heavy, sharp knife,
cut through the fold. I then have enough for several days of baking. So they
stick to the baking sheet and won't slide, dab a piece of water or cookie dough
in each corner and press the paper into place.
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