The Super-Easy Tip For Cleaner Cake Baking

Baking cakes can be a messy business, with cracked eggs and flour sometimes getting everywhere. Alton Brown even has a tip for flouring pans without making a mess. But one part of the process that's difficult to control is what happens once the pan is in the oven. You fill a baking tin with liquid cake batter and hope it doesn't boil over or tip as it's baking. If it does, you wind up smelling charred cake batter through the rest of the bake and looking forward to cleaning a messy stove. Fortunately, there's an easy tip for dealing with drips and spills: a baking sheet.

That's right, we're talking about regular baking sheets — one of those essential baking tools everyone should own. Using a cookie sheet or baking sheet as a spill tray works in all sorts of situations where overflow and drips happen, from stews and roasts to barbecue. But it's worth having extras on hand during cake baking. Filled cake pans can spill if you bump them or when you're rotating pans for even baking. If the pan is filled to the brim, spills happen as the batter boils and expands. A spill tray takes care of the unpleasant aftermath before it happens.

To prepare your baking sheet for use as a spill tray, merely set it under the cake pan before filling, and pop it into the oven. The technique works with any sort of cake (Bundt cakes are especially prone to spills), but also helps with pies, fruit-filled tarts, and custards. If you're regularly getting spillover, consider using a little less batter or a larger pan.

Of course, then you have a stained baking sheet to deal with, blackened with bits of burnt cake. But if you do it properly, there are ways to clean both aluminum and non-stick baking sheets so they look new. Vinegar, baking soda, and elbow grease generally get the job done. Or, you can line the baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper, aluminum foil, or a silicone mat for an added layer of protection. In fact, lining baking trays or cake tins is one of several parchment paper cooking hacks you may use forever once you discover them. Cleanup is a breeze: Crumple up the paper or foil, and toss it. A mat cleans easily too (or just replace it if it's too grungy). With all these tools at your disposal, you'll never again face a post-bake situation that leaves you busier than you'd like to be.