The Double Cooling Rack Method For Getting Cakes Out Of Their Pans Without Fail

Whenever you're baking a cake, no matter how faithfully you've followed the recipe, there's always a tense moment when it comes to seeing if it will come out of the pan intact. If the cake breaks into pieces, it may still be salvageable — a really thick frosting can not only glue it back together but hide the evidence that it fell apart in the first place. Even in the worst-case scenario, you can repurpose it in trifle and turn leftover cake into cake pops. Still, the ideal situation is always to have your cake come out as intended, and corporate pastry chef Sofia Schlieben shared a tip with The Takeout that can facilitate the process. To make it work, though, it helps to have two cooling racks.

"The idea behind using two cooling racks is that flipping the cake is easier when there's less air space for something to go wrong," according to Schlieben, who is employed by the hospitality group JF Restaurants. If you put a cooling rack on top of the cake pan as well as one underneath, the cake only has a short distance to drop. The way to do it is to hold both racks tightly, then invert the cake pan and wait for it to fall onto the second rack . If the de-panned cake is flat, you can cool it upside-down. If not, simply perform the double cooling rack maneuver again so it's facing right-side up again. 

"Since the pan was the hottest part," said Schlieben, "you can usually do this step without pot holders." She also noted that if you don't have two cooling racks, you can "use a flat plate or another sturdy, lightweight surface as a substitute."

No matter how carefully you flip your cake and limit the drop zone to the space between cooling racks, it won't release from the pan cleanly unless you've done something to the surface to ensure that it won't stick. "Hydration and sugar are the main culprits behind cakes sticking to the pan, so creating a barrier between the batter and the pan is essential," pastry chef Sofia Schlieben explained. Her preferred method is to grease the pan with cooking spray and then cover the bottom with parchment paper.

If parchment paper is too pricey for your pocketbook, you can actually use wax paper as long as you're only lining the bottom of the pan. While one main difference between parchment paper and wax paper is that the former is heat-treated and the latter is not, as long as the wax paper is entirely covered with cake batter it won't be exposed to direct heat and should be okay to use. 

If you're avoiding parchment paper because it's not recyclable or you're using a hard-to-line pan (or simply don't want to go to the bother of cutting parchment to line a round pan), then greasing and flouring — or greasing and sugaring, as Schlieben also suggested — creates a "delicate crust that helps the cake release cleanly." You could also keep your cake from sticking with homemade "cake goop" made by combining equal parts of flour, oil, and either shortening or butter.