‘Barefoot Contessa’ Ina Garten Has a Foolproof Trick So Cakes Never Stick

Ina Garten has the perfect trick that keeps cakes from sticking to the pan so they release easily every time. As with everything Garten does, simplicity is the key — and a simple hack can go a long way to ensure your cooking and baking doesn’t hit a snag.

Ina Garten always uses parchment paper in her cake pans

While making her lemon cake, Garten explained how she not only greases and flours the pans she uses, but also puts a piece of parchment paper in the bottom. “There’s no point in making a delicious cake if you can’t get it out of the pan,” she explained.

Garten also showed the technique while making her chocolate ganache cake. “So first what I’ve done is I’ve buttered an 8-inch round pan and it’s got a nice high 2 inch side,” she said. “The question is, ‘How do you get a square piece of parchment paper into a round pan?’”

Not to worry, because Garten has the solution.

The Barefoot Contessa star shows how to fold a rectangular piece of parchment paper in half, then in half again, and again until it’s a triangle shape. “Then you put the tip right where the middle of the pan is and cut off inside the pan” to fit it to the proper size.

“And if it’s too big, you can just refold it and recut it,” she advised.

When she unfolded the paper, it fit the pan perfectly.

Giada De Laurentiis doesn’t use the no-stick technique

Interestingly, when Garten made her chocolate cassis cake with Giada De Laurentiis, she prepped the pan with parchment paper and asked the Food Network star if she does the same.

“I don’t know, do you always use parchment paper, I always do,” Garten asked. “Because there’s no point in making the cake if you can’t get it out!”

“I don’t,” De Laurentiis admitted. “But it’s a good — you should. I’m lazy.”

Garten’s cake turned out perfectly and the two Food Network stars worked together to make a sinful chocolate glaze that they poured in the center and gently pushed to the edges.

Ina Garten also has a trick to keep muffins from sticking

Garten also has an easy no-stick trick when making muffins. While demonstrating her blueberry coffee cake muffins recipe on Barefoot Contessa, she explained that she picked up the trick when she owned a specialty food store.

“One of the tricks I learned at Barefoot Contessa is if I just grease the top of the muffin pans, they don’t stick to the top,” Garten shared. She quickly brushed oil over the muffin pan so that there’s no chance the muffins won’t release properly.

She also lined each muffin cup with white paper liners, noting they look “more elegant than the colored ones.”

“Anything that ensures you can get the muffins out of the pans,” she added.