Hello all,

I have to make a 12" square chocolate cake for next weekend and I made two this past weekend and both had the same problem. When I turned them out of the pan, the sides of the cake fell off! I've never seen this happen before. I used two different cake recipes (I figured I might have more luck) that I've used many times before with no problems. It was really warm and humid so the first time, I thought my room temp butter was too soft (the room temp was probably 85) so the second time I only let the butter sit out for a short time. Both cakes were made with cocoa, the eggs were fresh as well as new baking powder. Any idea why this might have happened? I'm afraid to use this pan again but really need at least 40 servings and don't want to make a tiered cake.
Thanks for any advice!
RJ

How long did you leave the cake to cool in the pan for? Maybe it was still a bit too hot and fragile when you turned it out? Did you turn out onto a cooling rack placed over the pan first? Or did you just turn the pan over and let the cake drop onto the rack? These are all things that can break a cake of this size...

Did you use a heating core? The edges might have been overdone when the center finished cooking. A heating core could help. Bake even strips could help. Also reducing oven temp by 25° and cooking longer could help. It's probably not the recipe since you tried two.

Thanks for the tip! I've never used a heating core - I usually don't make cakes this size. I'll have to go see where I can buy one!
Thanks again!

Do you line your pans with parchment (or even waxed paper)? For a flat-bottom pan, I line the bottom with parchment and give the paper a light spray of pan release. Then I let the cake cool thoroughly before de-panning. I also use a small knife (or metal spatula) and scrape along the inside perimeter in case any cake stuck to the pan sides. HTH

Thanks again for the tips. I did line the pan with parchment and did let the cake cool for about a 1/2 hour before placing the rack over the pan to flip it out. It was still warm but I've done this so many times with smaller cakes with no problems. I think it was probably that the middle of the cake took longer to bake as the sides were a little lower. I will either get the heating core or switch the cake to a smaller round and make a tiered!! I now have nightmares about turning out the cakes!
RJ

Omg this just happened to me yesterday too!!!!!!! But with a 10 inch round I dunno if I should trim the sides or rebake altogether.

I never "flip" cakes out....I'd probably break every one of them. After 10 minutes I place a cooling grid on the pan and gently turn over. I also run a knife around the edges before I turn just in case some cake got stuck.

If you don't have a heating core you can use flower nails in its place. Spray them with cooking spray and place 2 or 3 in the pan with the base of the nail against the bottom of the pan. I have used it for the last 14" cake I baked

Thank you! I saw on-line that you could use the flower nails and went to buy two of them last night at AC Moore. Luckily they're only $1.49 each. I'm still switching to a 12" round

I have never used a heating core or flower nail in my pan. I do line (especially chocolate) with wax or parchment. After cooling for about 10 min. I take a serratted knife and lay flat and trim any of my cakes. I also take a spatula and loosen the side. I just take a cake board, same size as cake(piece of waxpaper on top and flip my cake onto this. I then let cool more. Freeze if i need to. Mine lay flat on the cake board.

I have always had the same problem with my square pans. I do everything exactly the same as my round pans, but always have the sticking issue with the squares.