How to Line a Cake Pan the Easy Way

Please welcome our guest, Amy Green, from Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free

Have you ever tried to line a cake pan with the trace-and-cut method? It always sparked a sense of dread in me. The tracing, the cutting, the trimming...it just took too long for this impatient girl. In my haste I’d skip that step and cross my fingers, hoping my cake would come out of the pan in one piece. But since I learned this quick and simple trick, I can line my cake pans in no time flat and know that my cake will come out of the oven looking gorgeous.

Follow the 9 simple steps below and save a little time this holiday season and all year long.

















Step 1: Start with a clean, round cake pan.

Step 2: Cut a piece of parchment paper large enough to cover your entire pan.

Step 3: Fold the paper in half from top to bottom.

Step 4: Fold a second time side to side. You now have a rectangle.

Step 5: Make a triangle by folding edge to edge, using the point as the tip of the triangle.

Step 6: Fold your triangle in half so you have a smaller one, still using the point as the tip of your triangle.

Step 7: Hold your folded triangle over your cake pan so the point is in the middle. Use your fingers to mark the edge of the cake pan. Cut the triangle using your fingers as a guide. Err on the side of caution and cut the triangle a little larger than you think you might need. You can trim it if you need to.

Step 8: Open up your paper, pop it in the bottom of your pan. Refold and trim if necessary.

Step 9: Coat your pan with cooking spray or oil. Put the paper in the bottom and smooth with a spatula. Coat again with oil if desired.

Now you have the perfect excuse to get into the kitchen and bake a cake. If you don’t have a recipe in mind, try Nisrine’s White Bean Cake or her Lemon Mascarpone Layered Cake. My Flourless Chocolate Torte would be a yummy way to practice this new trick, too.


Amy Green, M.Ed., authors Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free, a blog about eating well, eliminating refined sugars and wheat, and maintaining a healthy weight. She has been living free from white sugar and wheat since 2004 and, as a result, is maintaining a 60+ pound weight loss. Over the years she’s learned that eating healthier doesn’t equal deprivation.

Amy’s first cookbook, Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free: 120 Easy & Delicious Recipes You Can Make in 20 Minutes or Less, will be released in January 2011. She’s also a field editor for Healthy Cooking Taste of Home, freelance writer, teaches local sugar-free, gluten-free baking classes, and was the featured FoodSpring.com blogger for the Summer 2010 Fancy Food Show. She lives with her husband and four dogs in Dallas, TX.