I had some trouble getting the cake out of the large heart cake pan this weekend. It didn't stick to the sides or the bottom, but as soon as I was flipping it on to the cooling rack, it started to crack through the center. Because it was a one layer cake, I just smooshed it back together, but I would have been up a creek if this was a two layer.

My mom always said to take cakes out of the pans immediatley and get them on the cooling racks so they don't keep cooking. But maybe that's why my bigger cake cracked? Should I have let it rest in the pan longer? How long can you leave them in there without worrying about them continuing to cook?

Or, now that I think about it, is there a better way to get large cakes of the pan?

Thanks!

Did you have a hump on your cake when you flipped it out? If you did that probably caused the crack down the middle.

As for flipping I put my cooling rack on top of my cake pan, grab both and flip at the same time. Set cooling rack on counter and then pull my pan off.

I don't let my cake sit longer than 10 mins in the pan.

My cakes come out of the oven and are turned over immediately onto a rack and the pans removed then turned over again onto a cake board. I do wrap my pans with cold wet towels so have very little humps to deal with but if I get one I just press it down as i turn the cake over.

I wrap my pans also....It really does help with the hump in the middle.......and I turn my out immediately. I line my pans with wax paper or you can use parchment ( prefer the waxed paper) I flip them out using a towel and flip them back right side up to cool.

After letting my cakes cool for 10 minutes,. As long as a grease and flour my pans well, I don't have any problems with sticking.

7-10 minutes here as well. I also line my larger pans with parchment paper...just in case

I do 15 min, not sure why, just always done it that way.

Bisbqueenb & TerryLee-

At what point of the process do you wrap your pans with cold towels? How does this help prevent a hump?

thanks

I always line all my cake pans w/ parchment paper...even the sides. Never had a problem removing them from pans. I usually leave them in cake pans from 15 min. to 1 hour. I guess lined w/ parchment paper it keeps them from sticking. I have even left them to cool slightly and then covered them w/ foil and frozen them directly in the cake pan. Popped right out. I saw on the Food Network not too long ago, some bakery flips their cakes over straight out of the oven. Lets them cool upside down. Helps keep them moist.....I tried that on some of my smaller cakes and I liked the way they came out. Helped them to stay somewhat level too!!! On some of them I put a pan on top to weight them down and help them to stay flat. Just be careful flipping them over.

I level my cakes as soon as they come out and then flip them out right away.

I wrap my pans with Magic Baking Strips to bake and turn them out onto the cooling rack as soon as they come out of the oven - never had one crack yet!

I use the bake even strips, remove them as soon as the cake comes out of the oven, and leave the cake in the pan for 10 minutes before flipping out onto the rack. I've been very successful doing this.

Thank You shisharka!

That is a great tip and 1 I am definitely trying!

Kelleym has it absolutely correct. Ten minutes gives the cake time to settle before flipping it out. Personally, I set the timer for 10 minutes as soon a cake comes out of the oven so I don't let it set too long.

I learned the towel trick from my cake decorating teacher many years ago, but she always told us to make sure we wet the towels before putting them on the pans, so I always have. I have also used the strips, but they are expensive and they are no more effective than the towels. I use a serated knife and level my cake even witht the tops of my pans before I ever take them out of the pans, if I need to, but honestly, if you use the towels or strips trick, it is highly unlikely you will have humps. I take my cakes out of the pans immediately and then straight to the freezer and I constantly get compliments on how moist my cakes are. The freezing while they are still steaming seems to help keep them moist and tasty.

The following is what I usually teach others when I am instructing:

For angel food cakes: When baking is done, proper cooling is just as important as baking. The cake is inverted in its pan to cool which prevents its structure from shrinking or falling, which gives angel food cake the open texture that is one of the characteristic of this cake. If placed to cool on a rack, it would deflate much of that hard-earned volume, so it needs to be placed upside down immediately upon removal from the oven. Those angel food cake pans without "handles" to hold the cake up when it has been turned over should be placed upon a bottle (such as a soda bottle or large glass water bottle) and hung in the air until cool.

For regular cakes: everyone has their habits, but what works for one may not be what another has chosen. I always follow the recipe instructions to learn whether the cake should be removed from the pans or baking sheets. Make sure you let the cake cool as the recipe instructs, or it will fall apart when you take it out of the pan. They will eventually go onto a rack, but it depends what your recipe says to do.

I always taught that cakes usually baked in 9x13" and sheet pans are left in the pan to cool. The pan sides support them and they will retain their texture and structure as they cool. Cakes baked in loaf pans are usually removed from the pan after a brief cooling interval, usually 5-10 minutes.

Cakes always should be elevated on a cooling rack so air can circulate around all sides (in or out of the pan); if not, moisture will condense at the bottom of the pan and the cakes will be damp and sticky.

For my wedding cakes, I usually let them cool for 10 minutes and then turn them out on my cooling racks. It gives them the time to gather their "strength", so they will not crack and fall to pieces when I remove them from their cozy, little pans. This has worked extremely well for the many plus years I have been baking.

You know, I have not had a problem with mounding of the cake in the middle since I have turned down my oven to 325 degrees. The cakes turn out flat and beautiful, without strips. I have a set of them, but could never tell the difference.

I bake at 325 as well, use a heating core, and rarely get humps on my cake. If I do, I press them down with a clean towel while they're still in the pan.

Thanks for the advice, I will try letting them rest 10-15 minutes in the pan rather than the 3-5 minutes they usually get. Hopefully that will help!

My cakes are trimmed while in the pan and flipped out onto cooling racks, all within 2 minutes of coming out of the oven.

I grease-only-no-flour the pan, 275 degrees in my shop oven (325 degrees in a home oven), baking strips. No cracking or sticking in the pan. Outer texture of the cakes are gorgeous (if I DO say so myself! )

One thing I might add: you have left your cakes in the oven too long if they have started to withdraw from the sides. For years, I waited on my cakes to shrink from the sides prior to taking them out, but then I got "smarter" about 3 billion cakes down the road When you take your cakes out of the oven just before they start to pull away from the sides they are more moist, compared to the ones I would leave in the oven... plus, I have found by putting a flower nail in, the cakes never mound (large part goes on the bottom... yes, the first time I tried to put it in the other way because I was not thinking ... and what a mess it was trying to right it! Surely none of you have done that stupid of a trick!).

Each of our ovens becomes the prima donna in our kitchens... some temperamental and others "conceited". Make sure you test the real temperature of your oven... it will be the difference between grand and great! The last three ovens I have had have all been different temps @ 350 degrees F.