Baking 101 - How To Prepare Any Cake Pan

In this post I will be breaking down how to prepare a tart pan, which applies to all cake/pie tins. In 2 super simple steps.

Had any trouble trying to get your cake out of your tin? After spending hours making the batter and waiting for it to bake. Only to turn it over, in anticipation to try your confection. But only to find it has completely stuck to the bottom of your tin? 

I’ve been there too, and trust me it’s not fun. But after years of baking I have mastered the art of preparing your cake pans and getting it out in one piece every time.

For vegans, you may be wondering how to grease a baking pan without spray. As they tend to almost always contain dairy. But there is a really simple and easy substitute to prepare your cake pan. So your bakes turn out without any hassle.

Baking 101 First lesson: Preparing your baking tins

How to prepare pans without parchment paper

With all my cake, tart and dessert recipes I always refer to preparing your tin by greasing and flouring them.

Here I’ll go through how to grease and flour a cake pan. You essentially start by greasing your pan first with either dairy free block butter or margarine with a piece of foil. You want to spread a very thin layer all around the tin to prevent the batter from sticking to the tin.

This greasing step is also vital for a second step in preparing the tin. That is to then flour the cake tin. You do this by getting a small handful of flour. This MUST be gluten free if your confection is also gluten free. Sorry I know this seems obvious but just to be careful 🙂

And dust it evenly around the tin. Then invert the tin over a bin and pat it gently to remove excess flour.

If however, you find any areas of the tin are not properly covered. Go over with a little bit more flour, invert, and pat off the excess.

You should then be left with a very very thin layer of butter and flour. Acting as our protective layer to prevent any sticking and so your cake slips out when baked. 

How to prepare a tart pan

This method works in the exact same way as you would above. This time you just have to be extra careful to get the pan greased in all the spaces of the tin. Especially those fluted bends in the tin.

This is because if these aren’t greased well, when it comes to the flouring stage, the flour won’t be able to stick and you’ll be left with patches without this protective layer. Increasing your likelihood of having your tart stuck in your tin.

Another thing to remember when it comes to making tarts, is to try and bake it in a loose bottom tin. It’s almost a must. Because I have no clue how else you’d be able to get that tart out in one piece. Without turning it upside down, and ruining your whole masterpiece.

Therefore, with a loose bottom tin, you simply push the base up and run a palette knife around the bottom of the tart. To remove the circular bottom of the pan from the tart.

Which you can then transfer onto a plate and present and more importantly enjoy. Without having to cut it out of the tin. Without it becoming a crumbly mess.

The best tart pans for baking

There are quite a lot of tart pans to choose from, but it is important to find the right one. And that comes down to its size, whether its dishwasher safe, whether it's grease proof, whether it has a loose bottom and whether its material is more likely to rust overtime.

Checklist:

8-8.8 inch- nearly all tart recipes are catered to make an 8”tart and usually serves around 8-10 people. 

Dishwasher safe - I normally wash all my cake pans by hand with lukewarm water and dry it straight after. Just so there's no chance of rusting and my pans are kept in good condition.

Therefore, I wouldn't recommend placing your pans in the dishwasher. As that high temp usually removes that layer of nonstick and tends to rust a lot quicker. So whether your pan is dishwasher safe or not isn’t the biggest factor in my opinion when choosing your tart pans.

Grease Proof - I think it’s relatively important for your pan to be non-stick. However, even with non-stick pans I still always grease them as they’re never 100% non-stick. And you don't want to take any chances.

As a result I have put together a list that meets all the requirements of the best tart pans. Ranking their prices from low - high. Including my own.

• 1st up is the MasterClass Crusty Bake Perforated Quiche Tin. As this is a perforated tin - This allows fast heat transfer and even heat distribution. So no soggy bottom is almost guaranteed.

Retails for: £8.99

• Up next is the KitchenCraft Non Stick Tart tin. It's dishwasher safe pan. It has a loose bottom so can be easily removed from the tin and is very robust.

Retails for £10.82

My Pan

• The MasterClass Loose Bottomed Tart Tin. This pan has worked exceptionally well for me. I had it for over 5years now and there is still no sign of rusting. My tarts have always been easy to remove and most importantly, tart recipe ratios fit perfectly in this tin.

Retails for: £11.25

Finally, something to note: Don’t limit your tart pans to just making tarts, you can bake quiches, cakes and cheesecakes in here too! - Where you can prepare any cake pan in the same way.

Your Thoughts

Hope you found this post helpful and now know exactly how to prepare your cake or tart pan. Share with a friend, who might find this helpful x

Have any questions on preparing a specific pan or need any recommendations on other baking tins/pans? Leave me a comment below and I'll get back to you.

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