All was perfect until I went to take the *&(((#*$&$*(#&$ cakes out of the pan. I waited my 10 minutes and flipped. The *&*(^&^&P*& bottom stuck to the pan and now my one cake is bottomless. I only lost a small piece on my 2nd cake, but that was easily repairable.

The good thing is it was a thin layer on the 1st cake and I was able to taste the cake....YUMMY!!!! So while I lost the bottom, I guess I'll use that cake as my bottom layer with the bottomless part facing up and put the filling on top of that.

I'm so mad, but I guess it could have been worse. The pans were still hot to the touch so I think I ddn't let them cool enough before trying to take them out....ARGH!!!!! I was so excited and impatient and figured they would be okay, but the thought went through my mind..."these pans are too hot. You should wait." Gotta listen to the gut, eh?

Just wanted to vent. I wanted my cakes to be perfect as this is my first order. Please pray the rest of the order goes smoothly and no one can tell the difference. Thanks for listening!

Wow the same thing happened to me last night!!!! My order is for a wedding so I threw out the bottom less cake but for the one that I could repair I kept it. I rebaked the bottomless one this moring and it came out perfect. Luckily it was only a 6" so there wasn't too much to waste however this morning I was sure to over grease the pan, perhaps I didn't have enough grease last night and that's what caused the cake bottom too stick. I tell you, I was crying but I guess we learn from experience.

Happy baking!!!

So sorry to hear that... but next time try lining your pan with parchment paper

Sorry to hear you had the same problem. I used the Wilton Quick Release stuff and I think for this particular cake, I should have used grease.

However with that said, I never would have thought of parchment paper. Thanks for that GREAT tip!

What I learned from my Wilton instructor is that you never leave the cake in the pan for more than 7 - 10 minutes. The grease you use in the pan will start solidifying, and after that point, will keep the cake attached to the pan. You could always lay a warm/hot towel over the bottom of the pan to reheat the grease, though, if left longer than 10 minutes.

HTH

I always use a very liberal amount of Pam with Flour on my pans. With regular pans, I also line with parchment in the bottom of the pan; I don't find the parchment is necessary with non-stick pans though.

Even if I let the cake cool completely in the pan, I've never had a problem with the cake sticking (knock on wood!)

Thanks for all the advise. This is a true learning experience and I'm taking notes and putting them directly on my recipes. Thanks!

Here is the final cake. I'm so-so about it. I see all my imperfections, but my DH said it looks fine. I don't know. This was my first cake order and I didn't know what to charge as I hadn't even done any cost analysis and wasn't planning on someone ordering based on seeing my Wilton Course I final cake....LOL. So when he asked what I would charge, I assumed it was for my chocolate cake (like the one he saw and ate) and came here to ask. So I went back to him and said $45. He said he wanted carrot cake with cream cheese. Of course....still all new to me, I didn't know what to do as I knew this would be more than my chocolate cake. Needless to say, I didn't make any money on this. Basically my cost of the cake and supplies and maybe some electricity Definately nothing for my time, but it was a learning experience

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1204489.html

For my cakes I always use Pam for Baking and on a "wet" cake like carrot or lemon lust I find I need to use parchment paper as well to protect the bottom. This way I let cakes cool for hours in the pan and have no toruble popping them right on out.

My mother taught me how to bake and she always told me that the pan should be luke warm to the touch and not hot because your cake might split when you try to remove it.

I have always lined my pans with parchment on cakes that have fruit, coconut, raisins, choc chips etc... I learned many years ago, that those cakes have a tendancy to stick especially ones with alot of stuff in them.
They come out perfect every time. On other cakes, if they don't want to come out of the pan, I pop them back in the oven for just a minute or two to heat the shortning up some, they will come out of the pan just fine.

Your cake turned out beautifully! You should be very proud. And for a first time cake, you definately learn lessons.. like what questions to ask for next time (in this case what flavour!). And with every cake you'll keep getting better and better. Great job!