An easy way to quickly and accurately line a cake pan with greaseproof paper and thus ensure easier handling of baked biscuits and a nicer look of the finished treat!
I hope they won’t be much disappointed with today’s post, which is again a kind of culinary technique, not a recipe! I haven’t been very active lately – either because of the trip, or because of the strongest flu I’ve had in my life, which still shows its traces after twenty days. Today without a new recipe, but for all those who often bake cakes and cookies, I believe this post will serve its purpose!
I’m pretty sure you’re doing it well, but is it your job as a joke or are you annoyed by stiff paper, cutting a circle that is often too big or much smaller than you need, edges that are wrinkled and can’t stand how you planned …
What I do know is that I’ve performed this relatively successfully before, but it’s always been one of my not-so-dear-moments. Today it seems to me that it is somehow less of a problem for me, so I think there will be more of us.
I think this is the right place to mention that it is really important that you follow the recommendations related to the preparation of the baking tray or cake mold that you come across in the recipes.
Most often, they involve coating the bottom and edges of the mold with butter or oil, and placing the paper only on the bottom. On the other hand, if the recipe also states sprinkling with flour, it is usually because the mixture that is baked needs to be “caught” by the edges. If you omit this step, the baked biscuit will run away from the greasy edges and thus withdraw and shrink.
Sometimes it is necessary to coat the edges, and this often refers to cakes that are important to look nice on the side, for example. various types of desserts that are not baked, such as cheesecake. There are special strong strips of transparent cellophane for that, but here we are still talking about home preparation of food, so … 🙂
So, instructions on how to line the bottom and edges of a round cake tin, casserole or bowl.
How to line the bottom of a cake pan?
If you are using paper that is already divided into sheets, you can use one in its entirety and later measure the radius (you will see below in the procedure) or lean the paper against the rim of the mold and fold it more or less to the width of its diameter. Cut with scissors and you get a square from which you will make the bottom.
Fold the paper in half on the wider side. Then repeat. The shorter side of that smaller rectangle is actually the length of the radius of the pan. It is important that this line remains visible during further folding, because you will measure its length later.
Fold the shorter side of the rectangle over the longer one, and then, leaving it on the outside (so that you can still see it), rearrange it once more to get a pointed top.
If you used a larger sheet of paper, press the tip thus made against the center of the circle and mark where it touches the edge. In case you are working with already measured paper, the shortest page will be the one you will cut on.
Cut a semicircle in the marked place, spread out the folded paper and make sure the circle is the right size. If it is too big, fold and shorten again.
How to line the edges of a cake pan?
Place the paper against the rim of the mold and mark it just over an inch above the edge of the rim. This should be the height of the strips that you will line the edges with.
I usually make two or three strips and lean them to check how much paper is needed, but you can use a thread that you wrap around the pan and cut, and then measure a strip of paper of that length.
Fold the strips from one longer side about 1 cm and crochet them several times.
Lightly coat the pan with softened butter or oil. Glue the edges first by rearranging the cut part on the underside.
Leave the length so that the papers overlap a little and, if necessary, connect them a little with butter or a drop of oil. After that, put the circle you have prepared on the bottom and the preparation of the dessert can begin!
I would like to point out another little technique that can be useful to you. If the cake mixture is very liquid before baking, and you use a mold with movable edges, I advise you to coat it well on the outside with aluminum foil so that the mixture does not leak (we all know that molds can be quite poor quality) and make you grate the oven.
Such is the case with a large number of creamy desserts that do not contain enough flour or do not beat the eggs with a mixer to become frothy and gain in volume and firmness.