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My pound cakes stick to the pan regardless of the efforts I take. I have used baking spray, olive oil, butter, butter & flour, and tin foil strips. I have cooled completely, placed in the freezer until solid and still have to chip it out. The recipe is 3 cups granulated sugar, 1 cup butter, 6 eggs, 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 cup self rising flour, and for the liquid I use 8 oz of either sour cream, buttermilk, sweetened condensed milk. One time I added 6 bananas, chopped pecans and mini chocolate chips and it did NOT stick quite as bad. What can I do to prevent this?

Catija
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Sherri C. Schoolcraft
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    What type of pan are you using? Can you post the recipe you're following? Do you have success releasing other recipes from this pan? – Catija May 30 '17 at 18:43
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    Did you try lining the bottom with parchment paper? – haakon.io May 30 '17 at 21:07
  • related : https://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/32877/67 ; https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/59887/67 – Joe May 31 '17 at 16:18
  • @Catija - It is any pan I use for this recipe. I use 9" rounds, a bundt pan, or loaf pans all non stick surfaces. The recipe is 1 cup self rising flour, 2 cups all purpose flour, 3 cups sugar, 6 eggs, 8 oz liquid (sweetened condensed milk, buttermilk, sour cream, etc) 3 sticks butter and vanilla baked at 325 for one hour. I have used parchment and tin foil to line the pans. I am wondering if it is the recipe. It is a hand-me- down from the 50's and I think that it is using too much sugar and maybe butter. – Sherri C. Schoolcraft Jun 01 '17 at 17:17
  • Which of the liquid options are you using? – Catija Jun 01 '17 at 17:20
  • Try to lower the sugar content a bit. And edit the question to add the recipe, as stickiness depends on the recipe and the mould. Normally if it sticks too much, regardless of oiling and flouring the mould, then the culprit is the sugar content... – roetnig Jun 02 '17 at 12:36
  • There are thousands of recipes for pound cake out there... if you really have this much trouble with it, you might be better off finding a new one. – Catija Jun 02 '17 at 17:58

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What can I do to prevent this?

  • You can line the pan with parchment, including folding it into the corners, so that the pound cake never even touches the pan.

  • You can liberally lube the bottom of the pan and/or use parchment just in the bottom. When you remove the cake from the oven, run a knife between the pan and cake on all four sides to release it.

  • Before adding the batter, you can make sure the pan is very clean, i.e. no burned on bits, solidified oils, caramelized sugars, etc. Conversely, if it's a cast iron pan, you could try to season it again by coating in a neutral oil and baking it (empty) at high temperature for an hour or so.

  • You can use a different, possibly non-stick pan. Loaf pans often get scratched up when people use knives to cut slices of loaf cakes right in the pan, and those scratches can make it hard to get the cake to release. And just switching to a different material might make a difference for your recipe.

  • You can use a different recipe. Proteins and sugars both like to stick to surfaces, and moisture level plays a role too; fats should help to promote better releasing.

  • You can make sure you're baking at the right temperature and not under- or over-baking the cake. If the cake isn't sufficiently cooked it may be too moist on the bottom, which can prevent it from releasing. If it's overcooked, it may start to burn or at least really stick to the pan.

  • You can lower your standards a little. Cakes and quick breads made in loaf pans often have trouble releasing from the pan without help. Unless you want to present the cake outside the pan, it's often easiest to slice them in the pan. (Just avoid using a knife with a sharp point so you don't scratch you pan. ;-)

Caleb
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    Thank you for your suggestions! I was wondering if the sugar or butter content was too high so I asked the original baker. She said that she has always had a problem with the cakes sticking. I think I am going to adjust the recipe and reduce the sugar content to see if that will correct the issue. She also uses an old fashioned cake pan that I think is for angel food cake made out of aluminum. – Sherri C. Schoolcraft Jun 01 '17 at 17:24