How Do You Turn Out A 16 Inch Square Cake?
Decorating By sheronc Updated 28 Jul 2006 , 4:31am by cakesbyjess
I am going to make the bottom of a three tiered wedding cake and I have a wilton 16" cake pan. I bought a cake board for it but what do I do about cooling the cake out of the oven? Can I leave it in the pan to cool or do I have to turn it out? I have no idea what to do. I had thought about turning it right onto the cake board but I would prefer to find out how all of you pros are doing it. I would hate to ruin a perfectly baked cake by making a bad decision. Thanks all!
If you have a large enough cooling rack you should turn it out onto the rack to cool. Leaving it in the pan might keep too much heat in.. and it will affect your cake.
I've let it cool overnight in the pan with no problem. I'm assuming you've got parchment in the bottom? Cooling it in the pan longer will also lessen your chances of cracking it.
I use a cardboard round or square to turn my cakes onto to cool before placing them on the cake plate to ice. First, though, when I take the cake out of the oven, I place waxed paper or parchment over the top of the cake, then place the board over that. I then weight the board down to make it fit flat along the pan edges, and leave it for 10 minutes, then turn it over, take the pan off the cake, and allow the cake to completely cool from there. I really dislike leveling cakes, and this has worked like a charm for me...also gives a little bit of density to the cake, yet helps lock in moisture.
Micheals has a pretty big cooling rack that I have used on large cakes with success. And it's under $10 I think. You definitely don't want to leave it in the pan because you will very likely have major sticking issues. I have read about people turing the cake out onto the board directly but I prefer to give my cakes room to breathe so to speak.
It sounds like everyone has had success with different techniques. I have some time to spare so I can try a few different methods if I need to. I am just soooo sick of eating all of my mess-ups so I just have to pray that whichever I choose to try first works! Otherwise I will end up eating the botched cake just to not waste food! Not to mention my family and coworkers have seen enough of my un-useable cake to last them a year at least.
I put a wax paper circle on the bottom of the pan and then pour the batter in. I also use a teflon strip around the sides of the pan. I have never had a problem just letting the cake cool in the pan (on a cooling rack). I would also definitely recommend using a flower nail or two when you bake it. If you haven't done that before, you'll be amazed how nice and flat (and not cracked on the top) the cake will be!
Good luck, whatever method you decide to use!! 
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