After I posted about my German Chocolate cake sticking to the pans I decided to take a break and come back to it later when I had a clearer head.
After about an hour I went back into the kitchen to look at my disaster.
I had attempted to make 3 round layers: one each of a 10", 8" and 6". Then I was going to torte them and add the filling... blah blah blah
Anyway, after looking at the disaster I realized that my 6" actually came out fine. It was only one side of each of the 8" and the 10". So it dawned on me, why not cut the 8" and the 10" down to the 6" size? A lightbulb shone so bright over my head you'd of thought it was daylight outside at 2a.m.
So, I cut them down and then torted each of the 3 layers. I will then add my filling and icing. My hubby and I will share a cute little 6 layer 6" round German Chocolate cake made for 2!
I am bound and determined that my first cake is not going to be a flop like I was afraid of and as soon as it is done I will post its pic on here. It won't be as decorated as I had wanted it to be but oh well. My next one will be decorated better. Can't let this stop me!
So now I see that the true meaning of being a Cake Decorator is the ability of taking something bad and making it into something beautiful

a) we are own worst critics...we see every flaw....but the public just stuffs their face!

b) disaster is the mother of invention -- and you've come through w/ flying colors.

c) the part that stuck to the pan is still good to eat, in fact it's there just for you to use to salve your anger.

d) the flopping the cake out of pans within five minutes is essential as otherwise that nice grease starts to soldify and think how sticky grease is in sold form! cake doesn't stand a chance.

e) personnaly I use either bakers joy or wilton's pan grease...rarely a problem. gave up on traditional butter/crisco and flour a long time ago nor do I do parchment either.

e) now go make that 3-D cruiser pan cake! (oh dear...another trip to the store to buy more baking supplies -- how terrible ----NOT! )

edited: for those old friends of mine...spelling and grammar!

Take the disaster that's left in the pan and make some cake balls! Do a search in the forums section and you'll come up with lots of posts and ideas!

Oh pooh! I wish I had known about the cake balls before I threw away all the scraps!!! Oh well... next time Thanks for the idea

you mean I could have a svelt figure by making cake balls with the scraps instead of eating them????


yeah, right, sure. Like we all know where those would end up too!

You crack me up Doug!
The best part about cakeballs is you can make em ...still get some scraps for yourself, but now you can have it with a little rum

as told to my daughter by me in our first cake class.

"Dear, a mistake is just opportunies for emblishement."

You rose above it instead of giving in...don't let that cake beat you!

I'm sure your hubby was happy with the results and that is what matters.

mommachris

I hate to disagree, because everyone has their own way of doing things, but leaving the cake in the pan for at least 10 minutes is important for the cell structure to begin to set. Trust me, when you remove a cake from a 350 degree oven, the fats don't begin to solidify within 5 minutes. Just try touching that aluminum cake pan 20 minutes after it came out of the oven...ouchie!

Remember to be gentle and not give the cake a rough flop....it's delicate while it's still hot, and any little tears in your cake could worsen later when you torte and fill and frost.

Congrats on your success! Next time, let your cakes cool for 10-15 minutes, run a knife around the inside edge of the cake pan, turn out gently onto a cooling grid, and then invert it onto another cooling grid. Let it cool to room temperature while you make your icing and get ready to decorate!

Susanrcp,

Congratulations! Making something work, even when it isn't the way you originally visualized it, is a great skill whether in cake decorating or anything else. May this be the first of many great cakes!

Just want to also say, I aree with Cakepro. I also let my cakes stay in the pan a bit longer--usually until I can touch the pan without burning myself and for larger cakes even a bit longer. When I've tried to take the cakes out while they were still really hot, I've usually managed to break them-- but, then again, I am pretty much of a klutz LOL.

Well all I know is that I let it cool for approximately 10 - 15 minutes. Then I went around the edges with a sharp knife. I then gently turned them over to get them cakes out and they weren't budging! I tried some gentle shaking and they were still not going any where. Finally, I just gave up (after trying to get them out of the pans for about 15 minutes) and just started shaking them rather viallantly until I felt them start to drop. Unfortunately it was only one side that dropped. But it all worked out in the end. Now I have lots of suggestions that I can try next time. Thanks everyone

I don't know how you prepared your pans. I like to use the pan grease recipe from this site and then parchment paper on the bottom. This makes getting the cake out of the pan much easier than it used to be.

Others here use regular cooking spray like Pam or special baking spray like Baker's Joy. Some use parchment paper and some don't. Some use parchment only for chocolate cakes. There are lots of different methods. Try different things until you find what you like.

The pan grease recipe I've seen most often here is equal parts flour, shortening and oil, but I have to admit I usually use only half the oil. Beat this in your mixer until well combined and brush onto your pan as you would butter. The mixture keeps well either in or out of the refrigerator. If it separates, just beat it up again.

Good Luck!

CAKE REMOVABLE this is what works for me I remove the cake from oven take a paper towel press it level if needed (not needed to offten the take the cake cooling rake place on top of paper towel and cake then slowly flip over then let cake rest on rake with pan still on top now for five to ten minutes then lift off pan from cake allow cake to finish cooling on rake. no sticking to pan and cake don't break apart.

Everytime you do something new...you are bound to learn from it (especially when something goes wrong). My favorite saying when I'm decorating is: "It's not how good you are, but how well you can fix your mistakes!" If you keep a cool head and try looking at it differently, you can almost always rescue your creation. It just might turn out better than you originally thought too!javascript:emoticon('')

Hello,
I don't mean to disagree with Cakepro but this is just what I do and I never have had a problem...I use Wilton's baking grease (the grease/flour one step goop that I brush on with a pastry brush) and bake all of my cakes at 325. When they come out of the oven I let the cake sit in the pan for no more than 5 minutes, cover the top with cling wrap (after I cut of the top level with the pan), flip the cake over onto my cooling rack, remove the pan and cover the cake with the remaining cling wrap. I wrap it while it is still warm and that way all the moisture stays in the cake and if there are any hard edges they softened right up. I have done this for most of the cakes I make and everyone says how moist there are. I have never had a problem with them being to soft or anything. They are still easy to handle after they cool.
HTH,
Heather

You know what they say....all is well that ends well~