The Secret To Making Tall Cakes In A Short Pan

There are only so many kitchen gadgets and pans one can reasonably store. Of course, there are the essential items any baker needs, but before you go to buy another specialty pan for a recipe you may only make once or twice, there are simple kitchen hacks that can tweak what you already have, eliminating the need to go buy new cookware.

Most of us have a regular cake pan or two in the kitchen, but if you find yourself making an extra tall layer of cake and don't have the deep pan for the job — no need to buy a whole new one. A simple roll of parchment paper is all you need to extend the height of your regular pan by creating a disposable extension of the pan with a parchment paper collar. This creates a taller cake pan and allows you to fill it deeper with extra batter for an extra tall, impressive cake. 

Of course, for such a thing you could always just make double the layers — three or four — and stack 'em. But if you don't want to go through that hassle of cooking and dealing with so many layers, just two extra tall layers gets you the elegant, impressive height you're looking for.

You don't need any special equipment or fancy type of parchment paper to make your collar — any grocery store roll you have in your drawer will do just fine. To make, first cut your length of paper — cutting a piece long enough to wrap all the way around the circumference of the pan, or you can cut two shorter pieces and build your collar in pieces to complete the full circle. 

The key step is to thoroughly butter the inside of your regular pan, as you'd want to anyway to make the baked cake easy to release. The butter also acts as your glue that the newly constructed collar will stick to, holding it in place. Then, work with the direction the paper naturally curls up in — not against, and build your collars around the inside of the pan. 

Lest you think the extra batter will fall over the flimsy layer of paper and spill over the edges, it'll hold just fine — as long as you complete the full circle of the collar and give it enough height for a couple extra inches of batter height. To be extra safe, you can even seal the paper where it overlaps with some butter to keep the circle of the collar complete. The natural inward curl of the paper will help the collar stand tall and strong. Then, you're ready to pour in batter with the extra inches of space in the pan you've created.

Though it probably hangs out in the same drawer as wax paper, aluminum foil, and plastic wrap, parchment paper's purposes could not be more different than those other tubes, and they shouldn't ever be used interchangeably. Parchment paper is an incredibly versatile and inexpensive tool that no kitchen is complete without. It has a wide use of applications in the oven, grill, fridge or freezer, and even microwave. It's made with a simple paper coated in heat-proof silicone, making it able to withstand high heats safely. 

This is in contrast to wax paper which, as the name says, is coated in wax which will melt when exposed to heat. Putting it in the oven is a no-no, and the same goes for plastic wrap or aluminum foil, of course. But parchment paper can do it all, from coating an air fryer to preventing baking messes and many other useful kitchen hacks. To play it safe while creating your cake pan collar for extra height or any other application, you should always be sure to prevent any excess overhang in the oven — which could potentially burn or even catch fire. Following the same logic, you can cut down your collar to provide only a few extra inches of height on top, trimming away the excess inches, leaving plenty of room for the perfect tall layer of cake.