Mrs Woolleys tips - How to line a cake pan.

When I first started baking and decorating cakes I could not figure out how other decorators would get such nice looking cakes before patching them up with frosting.  My cakes either had chunks missing from them as parts of the cake would stick to the pan or dents in them from where the lining of the baking paper created a crease in the cake.  Not only that but in order to level the cake on the top I often had to cut large amounts off of it due to large cracks in the centre of the cake(much to my husbands delight!) By the time I would finish getting the cake decorating ready, there was very little left of the cake.  It never occurred to me that there might be a very easy solution until I came across a recipe for a mudcake that talked about the importance of lining a cake tin in a specific way.  Lining a cake tin properly does take time but is so crucial to making your cake presentable straight from the pan.  It not only allows for easy removal of the cake from the tin but by placing a piece of baking paper directly on top of the cake batter you also eliminate cracks forming in the cake, the cake remains level and the heat is evenly distributed throughout the cake.

To line a round cake pan measure slightly more than halfway around the tin and cut off a piece of baking paper to size.  Fold and cut the baking paper in half.  Measure to the height of the tin and measure an additional inch more and cut the baking paper down to this size for each half.  For each half, fold over one inch and cut into the paper one inch thick across. (See the below photos)  Trace and cut two circles from the cake tin.  Lightly grease the cake tin and take one of the halves and wrap around the inside of the cake with the one inch section lining the bottom.  Do the same with the other half, overlapping slightly. Place one of the circles on the bottom of the tin over the one inch sections.  Fill the tin with your cake batter then place the other cut out circle over the batter and place it in the oven.