I have a couple of recipes where the cake is ALWAYS overflowing in the oven over the sides of the cake pans.
Red velvet is the worst offender, but depending on how full I fill the pans it can happen to any type of cake. (Click here to read about red velvet cake and what makes it what it is.)
I recently switched the recipe that I use to make vanilla cakes, and I think that it’s also an overflower.
I don’t want to change the leavening amounts because I like the texture of the cake, but I also don’t like having to clean batter off the bottom of the oven while I’m baking.
For an article about my favorite tools for wedding cakes, click here.
To stop the cake from overflowing, I’ve started collaring the pans when I make certain types of cakes, but it might be good to do it for everything.
For an article about oven hot spots, click here.
How to make a cake collar.
To make a collar for your cake pan, use parchment paper or waxed paper and cut a strip that’s about an inch taller than the cake pan.
Put the paper inside the pan around the outside, and make sure that the ends of the strip overlap by a couple of inches.
When you fill the pan with the batter, make sure that the collar is pressed up against the side of the pan smoothly.
The other benefit of this method is that you won’t have to grease the sides of the cake pans, so they’ll be easier to clean later.
There’s no need to use anything expensive, waxed paper or parchment paper work fine, and they can be cut as tall as you want them to be.
Don’t use any kind of plastic or acetate for this, they can melt in the oven and ruin your cake!
Cake collars made from acetate are used for shaping cakes with fillings after they’re baked, not for the actual baking process.
Here’s a cake that I used cake collars for so that you can see what they look like in action: Apple Pie Spice Pound Cake
If you also use a parchment round in the bottom of the pan, you won’t need any grease at all, and the cake will be sure to come out of the pan cleanly with very little effort.
I’ve noticed that the cakes that I bake with collars tend to bake a little taller, so the batter must like the parchment that I’m using to make the strips.
When the cake bakes up slightly taller than the edge of the pan it also makes it much simpler to level the layers, too.
Try it and see if your cakes bake up a little taller.
