I've been having trouble with my cake not wanting to release and losing a chunk out of the middle...
Do you all take it out of the pan completely cool or slightly warm?
TIA

I always let my cakes cool off completely. The times that I haven't the cakes started to split in the middle.

Thanks TC!

Your very welcome. I always check the cakes & when they are cool I take them out of the pan. I've heard if you don't they will stick. I've never let em' stay that long so I don't really know. My luck they would stick & I would have to start all over

I take mine out of the oven, level in the pan and turn out immediatly. They always come out perfectly. I think this is one of those things that different things work for different people.

I allow about 5 min (and usually either: trim hump or do the press down technique) and then turn out.

Immediately wrap in glad warp and either:

if not using same pan again -- put back in pan and cover w/ heavy duty aluminum foil

or wrap in heavy duty foil

then into freezer for several hours.

I wait about 10-15 mins (usually closer to 10) and turn it out to cool completely on the rack. I use that Wilton Cake Release and I've never had a cake stick to my pans.

I wait 5-10 minutes, level in the pan, then turn the cake out onto a cooling rack to cool completely before I either frost or freeze.

It's a balancing act, turning the cake out of the pan after it's cooled enough to not crack or break, but before it cools so much that the pan grease/crisco/release congeals and stops working. 10 minutes is about perfect for me.

I did a tutorial on bulging and getting a flat cake, I don't know if it would be helpful to you:

www.cakeboss.com/preventbulging.aspx