{top tip} How To: Make a Parchment Cake Circle With No Scissors

In my home kitchen, I use a lot of shortcuts and tricks gleaned from my checkered pants past. From time to time I will pull one out of my toque and share it with you! If you have questions or requests, leave them in the comments and I’ll tackle them in a future post.

I used to shudder when a cake recipe said “line the bottom of the cake pan with a circle of parchment” because unless you’re a bakery you don’t just have differently sized circles of parchment in your life, so you have to trace one and cut it out and that’s just a drag. I’m trying to make a cake over here, not do a damn craft project. And then I went to pastry school and learned this trick of how to make a cake circle with no scissors or hassle. Totally worth the 30 grand or so. I mean I learned a few other things too, but this is one I use a lot.

Step 1: Rip off a square piece of parchment that’s a bit bigger than your pan. Fold the paper in half, then in half again. Keep folding it over itself along the same axis until it’s a skinny triangle, about 4 folds.

Step 2: Hold the tip of the triangle at the center of the overturned cake pan. Note where the parchment stops at the edge of the pan and put your thumb and forefinger there.

Step 3: Carefully rip the paper at the place where your thumb and forefinger have indicated as the edge of the pan.

Step 4: Open it up and you will find you have a near-perfect circle. It’s kind of like when you make snowflakes as a kid by cutting paper out and then opening it up.

Step 5: Butter the pan and stick the circle down inside. Voila!