“God damn it!" “Aww come ON." “S%#T!
Commonly heard phrases from the kitchen, and from any cake-maker who has yet to discover cake goop.
There’s nothing less fun than spending your time and good ingredients making cake layers, only to have the bottom of them - middle chunks and all - stick to your cake pan when you turn them out to cool. Recipe upon recipe will tell you to grease your pans, but it never really works, does it? The better recipes will tell you to grease the pan, place in a parchment circle, grease the parchment & sides, and then coat it with flour (light cake) or cocoa (dark/chocolate cake), tapping out the excess. But - really? All THAT just so my pan will freakin’ LET GO of my cake? It’s simply obnoxious. Never mind annoying/eventually expensive to have to always have the right size of parchment rounds around.
Well I’m here to tell you, friends, you shall suffer no more! I hereby introduce you to - CAKE GOOP.
This stuff is magic. Like - unicorns who poop rainbows magic. It has only three simple ingredients - shortening, oil, and flour - and better yet, it’s just equal parts of each!
The “Recipe” (weights not listed because it’s really okay to be approximate here):
1 cup shortening*
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 cup flour
Put ‘em all together, and whisk ‘em up! If it doesn’t get smooth, it might be that your shortening was cold, so just pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds and re-whisk, and repeat until it’s smooth. Note that if you do this, you should let the mixture chill in the fridge for a bit before using it.
Put it in a sealed container and keep it in your fridge. It will pretty much last forever, but as it has oil it will eventually spoil, so just use the sniff test if it’s been around longer than 6 months or so.
When you’re ready to use it, apply a thick coat (THICK!) to the bottom and sides of your cake pans with a silicone brush, and in goes the batter. If you’re making a chocolate cake or another kind of dark cake that wouldn’t be too harmed by a slight dusting of cocoa on the edges, sprinkle about 1tsp of cocoa into the pan before adding your cake goop, and ask you brush the goop around pick up the cocoa so it all gets brown.
Happy Baking!
*One time I used coconut oil instead of the shortening and if memory serves it worked fine. But, you’re applying such a small amount in the grand scheme of things anyways, I’m not sure being health conscious makes much sense here. And…we’re making cake…so, health? Right.