The Parchment Paper Hack That Makes Transporting Desserts A Breeze

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On the list of mistakes that everyone makes when using parchment paper, not making a parchment sling wasn't listed ... but maybe it should have been. It's a bummer when you bake up a beautiful cake or tray of cookie bars and the picture-perfect baked goods are impossible to remove from the pan in one piece. Running a knife around the edge of the treat can help loosen it, but removing the whole confection from the pan and keeping it right-side up is a serious conundrum. For that, you ought to make a sling with parchment paper.

All you need to do is cut extra length on your parchment paper when you line the pan so that perhaps one or two inches stick out on either side. Some methods will crisscross two cuts of paper so that you have all four sides of a square pan accounted for, although you can get away with just two. When your dessert is baked, simply use the overhanging parchment edges to lift it effortlessly from the pan. At worst, you might want to run a knife or offset spatula around the uncovered edges if you are only using a single sheet. 

With your sling, you can easily transport your treats to a pretty serving vessel. Even better, you will save yourself a lot of mess on the bottom of your baking pan. Even if you use nonstick parchment paper — and don't confuse parchment with wax paper, or else risk your oven — you might want to coat your paper with a couple blasts of baking spray to ensure the smoothest removal.

Some folks swear that you can only use a parchment paper sling on a square or rectangular pan, because otherwise the paper will bunch and mess up the bottom of your dessert, but this isn't technically true. Amazon carries a pack of 50 unbleached parchment paper slings for Dutch ovens that are round on the bottom with nice, long handles for slinging bread boules or round cakes. You can, of course, also trim your own uncut parchment paper to fit just about any baking pan. It may be a bit more effort if you are using an irregular shape, but the extra work will pay dividends when your cake comes out perfectly formed.

Your parchment slings will save you the most stress when it comes to any recipe with a sticky dough. Take, for example, all desserts involving cheesecake or doughy quick breads like three-ingredient banana bread. On social media, home sourdough enthusiasts swear by a little added flour or cornmeal atop their spray oil to absolutely ensure that their gorgeous loaves emerge 100% intact.

Perhaps one of the only tricky parts of using a parchment paper sling is keeping the ends out of the way when pouring batter or dough into the pan. We've seen binder clips used to secure the edges to the pan, but make sure you remove them before baking! Once you've filled your pan, trim overly long sling sides down to just a couple of inches so there's no risk of them ending up baked into your food if they curl up in the oven.