A beautiful but almost unusable bunt pan...

I have a really pretty, rather ornate, Nordic Ware bunt pan. I hate it with every fiber of my being. It tempts me with it's peaks and valleys but everything I bake in it has to be removed forcibly.

I have tried Baker's Release Spray, Pam/etc. and a liberal dusting of flour, margarine and a liberal dusting of flour — it doesn't matter, the results are the same and I am left to piece my cake together on the serving plate.

Will using REAL butter make a difference? Is that the secret to success? Does anyone else posses such a pan, if so what's your method? I have some lovely citrus screaming CAKE but do I dare gamble with them in this pan?

Thanks in advance oh wise FOOD52 Masters.

Posted by: chl0525
March 23, 2012

8059 views
19 Comments

19 Comments

ChefJune March 26, 2012

With my coconut pound cake, I butter, then SUGAR the pan. And the cake is imbibed with syrup while still hot and in the pan, and the cake comes out fine. Have you tried flouring or sugaring after the butter?

chl0525 March 26, 2012

I did flour this time but I have not tried sugar. I'll have to give it a shot! And yum, coconut pound cake...

chl0525 March 26, 2012

Butter is the answer. Real butter and LOTS of it. I used about 2 TB, not melted but very, very soft, and pushed it into every crevice with my silicone brush. Then I floured and went back and used my (clean!) finger to hit the 3-4 little spots I had missed. When I checked the cake I could see it had pulled slightly away from the sides, it tested done so I let it cool for about 10 minutes before turning it out onto a plate. So I guess I'll be keeping my pan. Thanks all!

ChefJune March 26, 2012

WOW! that is one fancy pan!! So glad you were able to get the cake out. It's gorgeous.

chl0525 March 23, 2012

OK, back into the keep pile it is. I'll butter the heck out of it (I have a silicone brush, melt the butter slightly I assume?) and flour carefully, drop my oven temp a touch and report back on the results. I tell you what, my grandmothers hand-me down tube pan with the plain-Jane straight sides is looking better and better!

BTW, excellent tip on the coco powder, I never thought of that but seriously, DUH!

Ophelia March 23, 2012

Yes, melt the butter and use a lot, don't skimp. An episode of America's Test Kitchen was about bundt cakes and that was one of their suggestions, along with flouring the pan, but I can't remember the rest of their bundt pan ritual.

Wow. http://foodlibrarian.blogspot.com/p/i-like-big-bundts.html
I'm sure that somewhere in all those blog posts are the secrets. 90 cakes and counting can't be wrong.

chl0525 March 23, 2012

Her chocolate and zucchini bunt is in my pan! This gives me hope. Thanks!

pierino March 23, 2012

Okay, maybe I'm thinking outside the box here but don't toss the pan. I like to use these forms for something similar to an Italian timbale. Cook a spaghetti or capellini type pasta to just less than al dente. Lube the pan, and fill it with your pasta. Bake in the oven for only five minutes or so. Invert it and fill the center with some really nice sauce. Makes for a nice presentation anyway.

ChefOno March 23, 2012

Let us know how it works out.

One more thing: Cocoa powder instead of flour if you're baking a chocolate cake. For some reason I tend to forget that trick.

creamtea March 23, 2012

I also have two of them I'm afraid to use. I think I used each of them once. I'm going to try your method, ChefOno, and hope for the best.

ChefOno March 23, 2012

Oh, and like boulangere mentioned, make sure you don't over bake. If you're going by time and using a dark pan, reduce the oven temp a notch.

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ChefOno March 23, 2012

Avoid cooking sprays containing lecithin which can leave a sticky residue.

I've had good results prepping the pan with butter using a silicone pastry brush and then flouring. Make sure the flour sticks everywhere.

Let the cake cool for 10 minutes then shake it side-to-side until it loosens, then invert. If that doesn't work, run a plastic knife around the center tube and the outer edge if necessary.

sdebrango March 23, 2012

Same problem, I have the NW mini sculpted bundt pans everything sticks from day one, tried cooking spray, butter, shortening. Nothing works. I no longer use it . I bought a large sculpted cuisinarty bundt pan and the release is pretty good as long as I am careful to grease in every crevice.

chl0525 March 23, 2012

Thats it then. I give up. Now that I think about my one near-success was the first use of that pan. I too am glad it's not just me!

Greenstuff March 23, 2012

The same thing happens to me with their popover pans. At first they're great and then they stick. I've written them to ask if it's something in how I clean the pans, but they've never responded.

Melusine March 23, 2012

I have a fluted NW bundt pan. First use -- perfect results. All subsequent uses -- disasters. I was hoping it was a sticky cake (dark chocolate with a creamy macaroon filling) and high altitude that caused the problem, but a lemon pound cake, at sea level with every 'grease the pan' trick I could find was also a disaster. Until I read this post, I was convinced it was just me. Sorry I don't have a magic answer, but thank you for the confirmation that IT'S NOT JUST ME!!!!

HalfPint March 23, 2012

It maybe the cake recipe that you are using. I got a beautiful ornate bundt cake pan as a wedding gift and when I tried to bake my favorite chocolate cake in it, it stuck like there was no tomorrow. Have you tried a pound cake recipe for this pan? I find that a firm cake, like a pound cake, is often easier to remove from a bundt pan.

chl0525 March 23, 2012

Pound cake-types are typically what I use this pad for. The only thing close to a success was a lemon-blueberry pound cake that I got from Cooking Light magazine years ago.

I think I'm going to give it one more shot. I'll use lots of real butter and make the Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit Cake with a Hint of Mint and if it sticks I'll dig it out of the pan so we can eat it anyway and toss the offending cookware into my DONATIONS pile.

boulangere March 23, 2012

Butter may make a difference, but your cake may also be overbaked. That said, I've had the same problem with the highly sculpted NW pans. The one that looks like roses comes to mind. No matter how I sprayed or buttered or floured, cakes always stuck. I tossed it out.

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A beautiful but almost unusable bunt pan...

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