Bundt Pans: Everything About Them

[Desiderio]

vanessa,

is your bundt pan coated with teflon or another non-stick coating already?  if so, you might not need to do the butter/flour thing.  i've never seen that before.

but it is beautiful regardless!!!

edited to add: i just noticed the pan sitting behind the cake in the picture.  i guess it isn't coated.  but it is white, which i've never seen before...don't know if that affects the cake or not.  wait to see if someone else who has a similar one replies 

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You know it actually says that is a non stick pan, so maybe I should just butter it very thin with a brush or so?Aghh then I thought I had something written about bundt pan and chocolate cakes, and ofcourse its on the chocolate sour cream bundt cake recipe, its says how to treat it with a paste of cocoa powder and butter and brush like you guys said , arghhhhhhhhhhhhh hehe oh well , sometimes I am so eger to do something that I forget the logic part and I end up messing sometng , need to have more patient yup yup

Edited October 12, 2006 by Desiderio (log)

[andiesenji]

I use the Bak-Klene on my vintage and antique waffle irons. If it will keep stuff from sticking on those, it will keep anything from sticking.

I have several of the very intricate Bundt pans and have had no problems with the cakes coming out completely intact. I have all of the NordicWare Bundt pans, including the new Stadium pan but I have yet to use it. I bought the Holiday tree ring last year and used it several times. It makes a lovely presentation, especially when one makes a contrasting cake with the Christmas Wreath pan.

You can spray with the Bak-Klene or Vegelene and dust with cocoa powder, however I don't bother and there is no residue on the cakes, I like the way the surface turns out with these products. The most intricate pan is the NordicWare Fairytale pan.

I also have a couple of the Kaisercast Bundt pans, the Domus and the Saphir.

Edited October 13, 2006 by andiesenji (log)

[srhcb]

I use Bak-Klene or Vegelene and never have any problems.

Bak-Klene

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Most of the consumer-type non-stick sprays contain something in the propellant that accounts for the sticky buildup over time.

[andiesenji]

I use Bak-Klene or Vegelene and never have any problems.

Bak-Klene

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Most of the consumer-type non-stick sprays contain something in the propellant that accounts for the sticky buildup over time.

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These were developed for commercial bakers. For a long time the only place I could buy them was at Smart & Final in a very large can. Now they are available in smaller sizes. I have a can of Bak-Klene that is 13 oz.

However I still have a 22 oz can of Vegalene. I see it is now available in a 21 oz can and is a different color. My can is plain white with red and gold printing, no graphic.

Vegalene

I have had no problems with build up since I began using the Dawn Power Dissolver on ALL of my pans as soon as I remove the product. I have found that it works even better if sprayed on while the pan is still warm. I rarely have to do more than just rinse it off with hot water and I rarely put them in the dishwasher.

[devlin]

I use Bak-Klene or Vegelene and never have any problems.

Bak-Klene

←

Most of the consumer-type non-stick sprays contain something in the propellant that accounts for the sticky buildup over time.

←

These were developed for commercial bakers. For a long time the only place I could buy them was at Smart & Final in a very large can. Now they are available in smaller sizes. I have a can of Bak-Klene that is 13 oz.

However I still have a 22 oz can of Vegalene. I see it is now available in a 21 oz can and is a different color. My can is plain white with red and gold printing, no graphic.

Vegalene

I have had no problems with build up since I began using the Dawn Power Dissolver on ALL of my pans as soon as I remove the product. I have found that it works even better if sprayed on while the pan is still warm. I rarely have to do more than just rinse it off with hot water and I rarely put them in the dishwasher.

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Can I use these instead of parchment paper?

[RodneyCk]

Can I use these instead of parchment paper?

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Depending on the type of cakes, I spray the pan, then put down parchment in the bottom, then give the parchment a light spray. Again, never have I ever had a problem with sticking.

A tip that always works for me… I sort of discovered this with my muffin opus. Most recipes say to let the cakes stay in the pan to cool from 5 to 15 minutes, before turning out. I always let them rest 3 minutes, enough to pull away from the sides, then run a knife around the sides, then turn out. More times the most, the knife is not even needed.

During the muffin opus, I learned from author and Chef Madeleine Kamman, muffins that stay in the pan after the first few minutes from the oven begin to stick to the pan and are harder to release. I just applied this to my cakes and works perfectly, at least for me. Plus, they do not continue to cook in a hot pan.

[andiesenji]

Way back when I worked in my mother's bakery, and we are talking a long, long time ago, we didn't have time to fool around with gently removing stuff from pans, with a few exceptions.

Muffins were banged out of the pans - ours were baked in pans that had 30 cups and we did not use fluted cups for muffins, only for cupcakes - onto cooling racks (same size as full sheet pans) a few minutes after they came out of the oven.

Whoever was pulling from the oven would slide the pans onto a pan rack, working from top to bottom. The person who was emptying the pans would start working from top to bottom, sliding the cooling rack onto the pan rack, also from top to bottom as they filled up. A cooling rack would hold two pans full of muffins.

The pans were taken to the sink as soon as possible, sprayed with very hot water and each cup was brushed with a round brush, sprayed again and slid upside down onto a pan rack.

As soon as the washing was finished, the pans were re-greased, using a mop and semi-liquid shortening and stacked back onto the ready rack.

When we got new pans, they were always "seasoned" just as you would season a cast iron pan, swabbing the cups with shortening and baking in the oven, empty, often repeating this a couple of times. This gave us a fairly stick-resistant finish. (This was in the mid 1950s, before there was a "non-stick" finish on any bakeware.)

We used pre-cut parchment rounds, squares and rectangles in cake pans, also in tube pans, occasionally a narrow spatula (icing) had to be run around the edges, but usually just banging the sides of the pan at a bit of an angle would free the edges.

When preparing a jelly roll with sponge cake, it was turned out of the sheet pan onto a towel, the parchment was peeled off and the cake flipped back onto another towel (both towels barely damp and warm) spread with the filling and rolled, pulling the towel up to start it.

All this had to be done very quickly before the cake cooled to the point it would stiffen.

[devlin]

Can I use these instead of parchment paper?

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Depending on the type of cakes, I spray the pan, then put down parchment in the bottom, then give the parchment a light spray. Again, never have I ever had a problem with sticking.

A tip that always works for me… I sort of discovered this with my muffin opus. Most recipes say to let the cakes stay in the pan to cool from 5 to 15 minutes, before turning out. I always let them rest 3 minutes, enough to pull away from the sides, then run a knife around the sides, then turn out. More times the most, the knife is not even needed.

During the muffin opus, I learned from author and Chef Madeleine Kamman, muffins that stay in the pan after the first few minutes from the oven begin to stick to the pan and are harder to release. I just applied this to my cakes and works perfectly, at least for me. Plus, they do not continue to cook in a hot pan.

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Oh fabulous. I'm gonna try that. Thanks.

[zoe b]

well, I am a convert to the fancy Wilton bundt pans--I got a brand new fiesta party bundt pan at my local thrift for $2 on Sat!!!! I would guess a Christmas gift that was donated.

So I read this thread in preparation----I was nervous about it releasing, but the cake came out absolutely perfect--and thanks, Squirrelly Cakes, for the tip on the recipes at the W-S site--I made the Sour Cream Chocolate cake and it was fantastic--real chocolate flavor as you said. I am going to work my way through the different recipes there.

I made the Double Apple cake from Baking From My Home.... last week in my old bundt pan, and didn't love it--it didn't have tons of flavor and it seemed a little soggy in the middle, so was willing to try another source for a recipe

It did rise very high--over the top of the pan, and sort of covered the tube hole--I thought for sure it would stick, but no--didn't have to tap or bang or anything. I sprayed it with release spray and floured it--I was sure that I wouldn't get all the little crevices if I attempted to grease it by hand.

I don't like the glaze--it was sort of like a glazed donut, so the next time I'll just dust it with powdered sugar--I served the Burnt Sugar ice cream from Baking with it--a knock out combo--everyone loved it--and my SIL already wants to borrow the pan.

Zoe

[Sararwelch]

I have a star bundt pan, individual bundt pans, a bundtlette pan (slightly larger than a mini muffin). I really like the bundtlette pan, it's good for cake and also makes nice brownies. I don't have any problems with the cakes releasing from the pans, and I use a flour/oil spray.

When I have extra batter I generally bake it in a loaf pan.

[dystopiandreamgirl]

I wish people would post pictures of their bundts, the old pans are charming and the new pans are very clever.

I'll start.

A bride wanted fleur de lis featured in her wedding so we made a chocolate groom's cake in the fleur de lis pan, glazed it with ganache, and molded bittersweet and milk chocolate fleur de lis to pile around it.

[zoe b]

I've had my beautiful heavy aluminum pan for about a year now--and loved never having to sweat getting the cake out--but the last two cakes were disasters--

admittedly, the first one was an apple cake recipe from Epicurious and half of the reviews said it stuck--so allrighty on that one, maybe.

But the second time it was the brown sugar pear cake from Baking My Home to. Yours.

I haven't made that particular recipe, but have made other bundts from this book so i had no reason to expect disaster--the entire outside of the cake stuck--but at least i had a big bowl of brown crispy crumbs to eat--my fav part of a cake--and at least it wasn't to bring somewhere or for guests--but still--has this happened to anyone else? Or possibly coincidence? I hope.

Zoe

[Smithy]

Zoe,

I don't have that kind of pan, and haven't tried any of those recipes, so this is a general question. Do you use a nonstick spray (like Pam) in your nonstick Bundt pan? If so, you may have killed the nonstick qualities of your pan. A regular guest of Lynne Rosetto Kasper's radio show, The Splendid Table, has asserted many times that the "nonstick" sprays should not be used on nonstick pans. She claims that the "nonstick" sprays contain lecithin, and that lecithin interferes with the chemisty of Teflon and its ilk.

Because of the claim, with some slight corroborating evidence, I have taken pains to use standard shortening or vegetable oil to coat my elaborately-fluted baking molds. It seems to work.

Disclaimers: I haven't tested the guest's claims; I don't work for MPR or The Spendid Table, and right now I can't even remember whether it was Deborah Madison or Dorie Greenspan or some other regular guest making the claim.

Claimer: I hadn't been keen on those nonstick sprays anyway, even before I started listening to Lynne's radio show, so I didn't use them much. My husband, however, does use them. I really do think some of our nonstick pans that were brought to the marriage are "stickier" that they used to be before DH started spraying them.

[prasantrin]

Another thing to consider about non-stick--have you ever doused the pan with cold water while the pan was still hot?

A friend recently told me that a T-fal rep told her not to cool a hot pan with water, because it will destroy the non-stick finishing. This very much explains why my non-stick pans are all no longer non-stick, though I cannot guarantee the same thing applies to Nordiware pans.

[helenjp]

Not sure about nordicware specifically, but I've found - twice, yes, I'm that stupid - that heavy, moist cake seems to permanently affect nonstick finish. Once was a fresh fruit cake, the other time was a traditional fruitcake cooked at low temperature for a long time.

Maybe just bad luck, but I had no trouble when I used silicon paper to line the pans first. I did have trouble when I used pans without lining them (tube pans).

P.S. Thanks for the heads-up on cooling pans, Rona, that could explain the fruitcake problems, as I often cook several batches, and want to re-use the same pans as quickly as possible.

Nonstick spray...it's hard to get in Japan, and I only bought my first can ever last year - and certainly have had trouble with nonstick pans in the past 2 years that I never recall having before. Could be related...

[zoe b]

Do you use a nonstick spray (like Pam) in your nonstick Bundt pan?  If so, you may have killed the nonstick qualities of your pan.  A regular guest of Lynne Rosetto Kasper's radio show, The Splendid Table, has asserted many times that the "nonstick" sprays should not be used on nonstick pans.  She claims that the "nonstick" sprays contain lecithin, and that lecithin interferes with the chemisty of Teflon and its ilk.

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oh, rats--yes, i do use a spray--JUST for that pan--because I felt that I might not get all the teeny crevises with a paper towel and oil or butter--now i am so depressed.

prasantrin said

"Another thing to consider about non-stick--have you ever doused the pan with cold water while the pan was still hot?"

No, I haven't done that, at least! I do rinse off my cookie sheets between batches, but they are aluminum.

Well, since this is a fancy fluted pan I can't line it--I'm going to think of something nice to soak it in to appease it--maybe pamper it into returning to being the fabulous non stick pan that it was--I think a nice salt bath will maybe do it.

Zoe

[gfron1]

Maybe not what you want to hear, but here is the use and care instructions from Nordicware:

Use and Care Instructions

  1. Before initial use and after subsequent uses, wash with hot soapy water.

  2. Before each use, brush with solid vegetable shortening and dust with flour or spray with unsalted vegetable shortening with flour in the spray.

  3. Mixes and recipes may vary. Fill the pan no more than 3/4 full to avoid overflow.

  4. Metal utensils, scouring pads and abrasive cleaners should not be used on non-stick surfaces.

[sanrensho]

I would suggest contacting Nordicware directly about the pan spray/lecithin issue. I'm sure they would be happy to comment on the issue. If you do hear from them, please report back.

Edited October 25, 2007 by sanrensho (log)

[Marigene]

I use equal parts flour and vegetable oil (which is kept in the refrigerator, so that it doesn't have to be mixed each time I need it) and then brush it onto my Nordicware Bundt pan and have never had anything stick to it.

[zoe b]

arrrggghhh--I wnt to the site and discovered that , yes, using a lecithin spray is not a good idea....but what they said was that it leaves a sticky residue--which gives me a little hope as perhaps there is a way to remove the residue--since it didn't say this damages the finish.

So I wrote to ask if it is possible to remove the residue--will report back.

I looked at my spray--it is soy oil and lecithin so maybe that's not as bad a s total lecithin.

Zoe

[zoe b]

just got a response from Nordicware--

A GOOD SCRUBBING WITH A PLASTIC SCRUBBER PAD SHOULD HELP--THEN USE CRISCO AND FLOUR

so maybe the finish isn't damaged--I do hope this is the case.

Zoe

[GlorifiedRice]

You can always get it recoated with new Teflon at some time.

I plan to do that when my rare Oxo Good Grips pots and pans lose

their non stickness.

[annarborfoodie]

America's Test Kitchen discussed sticking and bundt pans last week. They recommended the nonstick spray with flour (either Pam or Baker's Joy) because the flour does a better job of getting in all the nooks and crannies.

[zoe b]

ok, I did something rather risky--my theory being that it didn't sound like the Pam ruined the actual finish, rather it just formed a sticky layer on the surface.

I soaked the inside of the pan for two days in my fav stain and baked on stuff remover--automatic dish detergent dissolved in hot water.

Then I gave it a good scour with a plastic scrubber--then soaked it in soapy water for a day--thinking of dish powder residue.

Then I baked a mix cake in it--I had an ancient box in the back of the pantry--from kid days--for cupcake emergencies. I just didn't feel like getting all upset when another recipe came out in chunks.

The cake stunk, but it came out of the pan fine--I think it's ok now.

whew!

[Smithy]

That's valuable information, zoe b. Thanks for the update, and congratulations!