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If you’ve ever flipped your bundt cake only to watch half of it cling stubbornly to the pan, you’re not alone.
Bundt cake sticking to the pan is one of the most common baking frustrations, and it’s almost always preventable.
Why Bundt Cakes Stick to the Pan
Bundt cake pans have intricate designs. Every groove and ridge increases the opportunity for batter to cling.
If your bundt cake is sticking to the pan, it’s usually because of one (or more) of these:
- Insufficient greasing
- Greasing too far in advance
- Letting the cake cool completely in the pan
- Using the wrong bundt pan
- Excess sugar crystallizing along the edges
The good news? Each of these is fixable.
How to Make Sure Your Bundt Releases Cleanly
Every single time, no drama or tears!
1. Choose the correct pan.
Choose a bundt cake pan with simple designs. The more intricate, the more likely sticking will occur. This bundt pan is a great option, as is the one shown below in the photo!
For best results, hand wash your bundt pans with a non-abrasive sponge and gentle dish soap and dry it off completely. This will avoid damaging the nonstick coating.
2. Use the right type of grease.
I avoid using butter to grease bundt pans, because the milk solids can bind the cake to the pan, acting like glue. If you’ve used butter and it’s not caused any problems for you, then keep using it.
What I find works really well is melted vegetable shortening.
Alternatively, I have successfully used baker’s nonstick cooking spray, specifically Baker’s Joy. Just note that any aerosol spray may degrade that nonstick coating over time.
Try Cake Goop.
This mixture is something Great British Baking Show winner Edd Kimber swears by! Measure equal parts (by volume) shortening, flour and vegetable oil. This will create a nonstick paste.
What about flour?
If you’ve greased and floured your bundt pans with success, keep doing it. I personally find this can either create more sticking, or ruin the look of the bundt pan.
If you want an extra barrier to prevent sticking, nut flour (like almond flour) can actually work really well!
If you’re baking a chocolate cake, try sprinkling the pan with cocoa powder.
3. Grease properly.
Get in every nook & cranny: Use a silicone pastry brush to generously brush the grease to all the crevices of the pan, including that middle column.
Grease just before filling: If you do it too early, the grease will slide down the pan and accumulate at the bottom.
4. Loosen the edges after baking.
Use a small, flexible silicone or plastic utensil to loosen the edges of the cake before attempting to remove it from the pan. Avoid metal, which can damage the pan’s nonstick coating.
5. Cool upside-down.
Let the cake rest for 5 minutes once you remove it from the oven. Then, flip the cake onto a cooling rack upside down and let it rest for about 5 minutes before you remove the pan.
A little trick here is to use a grid cooling rack, not one that has big gaps. That can cause the cake to settle into the gaps and makes it harder to transfer to a platter.
How to Unstick a Bundt Cake
If your cake doesn’t look like it’ll release from the pan, here’s are two tricks.
Get steamy: If you have a clothing steamer, apply steam to the exterior of the pan to help loosen the cake. If you don’t, place a kitchen towel in your sink and pour boiling water over it until it’s soaked and steaming. Remove your cake from the oven and place on top of the towel and let it sit and steam for about 10 minutes.
Get icy: If your cake really doesn’t look like it’ll release, try freezing it until hard, then invert it.
Reader Love
Thank you for the tip on how to remove a bundt cake from the pan. After struggling with it I finally looked it up on line and found your recommendation using boiling water on a towel. After only a minute or less it released . It worked like a charm. It was a carrot cake.
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How to repurpose a stuck bundt cake:
If you can’t seem to remove the bundt cake in one piece, it’s time to pivot! Making a trifle, cake pops, or even slicing the intact part and grilling it up to serve with fresh fruit are fun options.
FAQs
Why is my bundt cake sticking to the pan?
Bundt cake sticking to the pan usually happens because of insufficient greasing, overbaking, or cooling too long in the pan. Sugar caramelizes and bonds to the metal if not properly insulated with fat and flour.
It can also happen if you use a cake recipe not originally designed for a bundt pan.
How do you grease a bundt pan properly?
Use melted shortening and a pastry brush to coat every nook and cranny just before pouring in the banner. Or, use a generous coating of Baker’s Joy spray.
How long should you wait before removing a bundt cake from the pan?
Wait 10-15 minutes after removing from the oven. This allows the cake to set while preventing the sugar content from hardening and getting stuck.
Are Nordicware bundt pans better?
Yes, in my testing these offered the best consistent results. They are typically made from cast aluminum, which heats evenly and reduces overbrowning.
Note that it’s not uncommon for a bundt pan to become stickier after years of use. The nonstick coating may degrade over time.
How to I remove a stuck bundt cake?
Use a clothing steamer to apply heat to the exterior of the pan. Or, place a very warm damp towel over the exterior of the pan (not touching the cake itself) for 5-10 minutes. The steam can help loosen stuck areas.
I hope you found these tips for how to get cake out of the bundt pan helpful. If you have a tip to add, please leave a comment below!
Thank you for the tip on how to remove a bundt cake from the pan. After struggling with it I finally looked it up on line and found your recommendation using boiling water on a towel. After only a minute or less it released . It worked like a charm. It was a carrot cake.
Woohoo! Glad these tips helped, Sally!
So I allow my cake to rest for at least ten minutes in the tin or even 15 I then fill a large stainless steal bowl with boiling water and sit then float the tin to warm the cake a bit, treating it like a jelly and creating a bit of steam. This generally works pretty well. Hope this is helpful
Fun hack, Emma! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Where on earth were you able to find a flexible plastic offset spatula? I have looked everywhere it doesn’t exist. Metal ones, yes, plastic ones, no.
Please help!
Hi Les! It seems Tessa’s favorite plastic offset spatula (made by Kuhn Rikon) has been discontinued. We have updated the post to reflect this, and linked something we think will work just fine instead – the smallest spatula in this set here. We are basically just looking for something small and non-abrasive, that will cleanly release the cake from the pan, without cutting into the cake or damaging the nonstick coating of the pan. I hope this helps 🙂
I buttered the bundt pan but did not flour. After reading several suggestions including ones that wished me luck but nothing would work, I turned the bundt pan face down on cooling rack 5 minutes after oven removal.. I then poured boiling water over a dish towel wrung it out and placed it over bundt pan bottom and sides. A hour later the lemon bundt cake slide out beautifully!
Phew! Glad you were able to find a solution, Anna!
I like all your ideas and use them all too. My secret is using melted coconut oil, similar to your shortning I would assume, but then I sprinkle turbinado sugar over every inch. Not only does it help the cake to not stick you get this sugary caramely coating on the outside. Yum! Thanks for the tips!
Sounds delicious!
What if a person has allergies to nuts what else could you use instead of almond flour?
If you’ve greased and floured your bundt pans with success using regular flour before, keep doing that. The nut flour was an additional recommendation 🙂
Thank you Tessa and Karen D for your helpful suggestions. Tried marble Bundt with butter and granulated sugar coating, the cake came out as soon as I turned it upside down (after letting it rest for over 5 minutes in tin.) Thank you both so much ladies
I use wondra flour after crisco..no flour on cake after baking and releases beautifully
I can’t seem to find the offset spatula that you reference in the video. And the link you have to the offset spatula isn’t available on Amazon. If you have any suggestions please let me know! Everything I seem to find is too rigid and too large. Thanks!
Thank you Tessa. Your tips are really helpful, specially
to me. Every time my buns sticky on the bottom like the
picture. This weekend I going to try and hopefully works.
Selenia C.