How to butter and flour the chimney of a bundt form

Question

I recently baked a rather sticky cake which called for a bundt pan. When I use a standard cake pan, I first put on the fat (either pouring oil and swishing it, or smearing butter with my fingertips) and then add some flour. Then I stand the pan in the position of a wheel and start turning. The flour gradually falls onto new, unfloured parts of the inner circumference and sticks to the fat.

When I tried it with a chimnied pan (actually a Frankfurter Kranz pan, but should go the same way with a bundt), no flour fell onto the chimney. No matter how I tried powdering the chimney, I found no way to move the pan so that the flour would distribute itself evenly. I then tried smearing the flour, but it stick to my fingers and the parts which stayed on the pan got overfattened instead of building a floury barrier.

What is a good technique to ensure that I have a nice fat-and-flour covering on the bundt? I am not asking about any kind of nonstick sprays, etc., just fat (solid or liquid) plus flour.

Answer 1

Use cake release. It's simple; just mix one part flour, one part solid fat (shortening), and one part liquid oil (roughly by volume). Assuming that your oils are shelf stable, your cake release will be too. (Or at least it will last for several months on the shelf. It may smell rancid slightly faster than the fats you used). Once it is mixed, you don't have to grease and flour cake pans. Just paint it on with a pastry brush. I recommend this one.

Answer 2

After buttering the pan (with a solid fat, not oil),

• I flour the chimney first, usually by generously sifting the flour on it (tilting the pan and rotating it helps),
• then I use what falls down for the usual rotating method to flour the bottom and outer rim.

Tap out the excess and you're done.

Chilling the prepared pan helps the butter/fat layer stick better to the pan, especially when pouring in the batter.