You Need To Try This Bundt Cake Trick, Says Great British Baking Show Champ John Whaite
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If you've been following "The Great British Baking Show" since the very beginning, you probably remember John Whaite, only 23 at the time, who won the third season of the show way back in 2012 (per his website). He has since written a total of five cookbooks, two of which are all about baking: John Whaite Bakes (per Amazon) and John Whaite Bakes At Home (also on Amazon). So, it should come as no surprise that he has many tips up his sleeve. But, there's one in particular that might make your life a whole lot easier, especially if you love baking bundt cakes and have ever experienced one getting stuck to its tin.
Whaite says in this blog post that the key to a bundt cake sliding off its baking tin is to prep it with what he calls a "butter, butter, flour preparation." Here's how it's done: Brush the tin with some melted butter, making sure that all the corners and nooks are greased well. Then, freeze the greased tin for about a minute — and after taking it out of the freezer, grease it with melted butter one more time. Finally, dust the tin with flour, and give it a shake to make sure that the excess flour drops off and the rest sticks to all corners.
After following these steps, you'll be ready to pour the cake batter in the tin. Whaite assures that, with this process, your bundt cake will fall off smoothly after it's done baking. If it still needs a slight push, gently run a small knife between the tin and the cake to do the trick.
How to remove a bundt cake that's already stuck
If you forget to follow Whaite's genius trick, there are still a few ways to get a stuck bundt cake out of its tin after you bake it. The Kitchn recommends the steaming method. Pour boiling hot water over a towel in your sink and squeeze out the excess water until the cloth is damp but not dripping wet. Place the towel over the bundt tin for about 15-20 minutes, until cool. The damp towel and the warm tin will together create steam that should ease the cake out in one piece fairly easily.
Another way to remove a stuck bundt cake is to first let it cool and then place the tin on a towel and gently tap the sides (via Taste Of Home). The sides of the cake will loosen up without you having to run a knife across them. This tip works especially well if your bundt cake has any fruit in it that may be causing the cake to stick to the tin. You could also just flip the tin over a rack or a plate and wait for the cake to slide off with the help of gravity on its own time — but you might be waiting a while.