I have heard about bake even strips for a while now so I decided to try it. For some reason my cakes start to taste like the way the bake even strips smell. It's a sort of metallic smell. Am I the only one who has this problem?

oh thats not good...i never tried them, i just bake my cakes at 325...works great

I've never tried them either but I've read about this problem. Lots of info here about the smell you mentioned...

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-9025.html

I have heard that problem on here as well! I just use wet paper towel strips doubled. Works like a charm!


Amy

I've only used them a couple of times because I didn't notice a difference in my cakes. I didn't get the smell you're referring to though.

I don't use them either--I've seen this discussion before and this nasty smell is what prevents me from trying them!

I've used them ... never had a problem! You do need to soak them well, and wrap them tight so they don't slide down and touch your oven rack.

I also gave mine several HOT water rinses & drip drys before I started using them... I don't know if that helped or not, I just wanted to make sure they were really clean.

I cut up an old towel .. wrapped it arround 2x very wet and it worked fine

I use them all the time and love them. Never had a problem. I have the tiered set of strips. I *JUST* bought the ones for the 8-9" pans and did notice that the shiny stuff was different than the large strips. I will make sure I rinse them a couple times before I use them. Could be these strips have the problem. What size do you use?

i use them, and ive never had this problem. Make sure you soak them first in very cold water....and the temp cannot be higher than 350.

I've used them for years and have never had that problem.

I have used them a few times never had the smell problem but I don't like them. They do nothing for me.

thanks for all the responses. I might just try the old towel trick!

what are the steps that you do.......

Isn't anyone curious about the paper towel technique?? I've mentioned this in several forum questions about the bake even strips and no one is even curious about it! I'm just surprised is all!

Oh well!!!! I'll just stick to what I know works. I haven't tried the old towel trick. Now that I think about it, my mother used to use strips of old towels. I remember they were from an old red towel. Wow!!! Talk about memories. I don't remember how she attached the ends together though. I would like to know how to do that!


Amy

Haha, I'm not because I have a gas oven and I'm not putting paper in there, wet or otherwise.

I attach the ends of my bake-even strips or wet towel strips with large safety pins.

I've used the Bake Even strips and never had a problem with the smell/taste. For some reason I only use them on my 8 x 3 round..i don't seem to need them otherwise!

Saftey pins is a no brainer huh???


I'll have to try the towel method. I have a few old hand towels I could cut up.


Amy

Hi,

I just baked five cakes for a golden wedding ... All rich dark fruit cake, and they take an incredibly long time (3 hours) to bake! I used the bake even strips on them as usual, and the cakes have turned out level and moist. I am very happy with the strips, never had a problem with them. No smell!

I make sure I soak them well and then squeeze them under water, so that all the air bubbles get displaced by water.

In fact, when I removed my largest cake from the oven after baking for more than 3 hours the strips were just warm.

Seven cakes today! Two are still in the oven, and I am so tired!

I am planning to ice the cakes similar to the one (5 stacked tiers) in Kerry Vincent's Book, "Romantic Wedding Cakes"

Karen

I thought I read on here that Wilton had changed the Bake-Even strip material. I had someone show me hers and they were really different than mine. I just figured mine were used so much that they were worn down but then I realized that they are just different on the outside.

Kelly

I used my set exactly once. Then I went back to Silicone cake pans. Kitchen Aid ones. Work perfectly everytime