The Best Baking Tip EVER!!

Even though this is a month late, I definitely wanted to share with you a few things I learned while making Billy's birthday cake...

This was a recipe I got from Barefoot Contessa recipe for Pineapple Carrot Cake...which is pretty much just a carrot cake with a little more natural sweetness from the pineapple. Carrot cake is Billy's absolute favorite...and he actually bowed out of having a groom's cake at our wedding because he said he liked my cake more than any carrot cake we could get...tee hee. I just thought the fresh pineapple was an interesting addition, so I tried it out! I even "butchered" a pineapple!

While the cake looked and tasted absolutely delicious, the main thing I wanted to share is the little trick I learned recently. To take you back a little bit, I made a scrumptious chocolate-chocolate cake for New Year's Eve/our friend Blair's birthday, but I have been having a heck of a time getting my cakes to come out of the pan easily. I literally used my chocolate buttercream icing as glue to piece my cakes back together since they fell apart while I was getting them out of the pan. Arg. Talk about frustration. Was it my pan? The oven? ME? Color me perplexed.

Enter Martha Stewart. She has a new show on the Hallmark Channel called Martha Bakes--it's pretty much just her in an amazing kitchen sharing some of her secrets on how to get perfect baked goods. A definite must-watch for any baker. On the very first episode, I learned how to solve my problem...

First, grab the pan you're going to use, some parchment, a pencil, and scissors.

Trace around your pan on the parchment with your pencil. See my awesome tracing skills below. Make sure you trace a circle for each pan you have. 2 pans = 2 traced circles.

Next, cut out your circles! Side note, you can actually BUY pre-cut parchment circles for your cake pans. Who knew?

Next, butter your pan with softened butter and a pastry brush.

Place your parchment in the pan and shmear some butter on that, too.
Now flour your pans. Put about a tablespoon of flour in one pan, roll it around and tap out the excess into your other pan. Continue for each pan. Make sure they are coated really well.

Fast forward to cake removal. Enjoy your perfectly non-stuck cakes!

GORGEOUS!

I was so pleased with how my cakes turned out! Martha really does know her stuff, but we knew that already. No more wasting icing piecing things back together, although that was one of my finer MacGyver moments.

One thing I don't like is how my pans have a tapered side, so my cakes aren't perfectly squared off (I know, I know...where's your tiny violin...). I have my eye on some of these: Fat Daddio's aluminum cake pans. I've heard aluminum pans are the best and this particular brand got great reviews. I believe you can order them directly from the Fat Daddio's site, but I've seen them on Sur La Table's site and on Amazon. I will definitely be getting two 9" ones VERY soon.

So that's that. I actually have a pile of unwatched Martha Bakes on my DVR. They are REALLY informative! I have another tip about icing, but I'll save that for later!