You answered your own question....let the cake cool well before trying to remove it.
But your recipe may have been faulty....did you do anything "creative" to the recipe?
Linda C

If you didn't bake it long enough, or at a high enough temp, then it will not come out cleanly and it will also break into pieces.

Have you checked your oven temp with a thermometer. I would start with that - it's the easiest thing to correct.

Did you have the cake in the oven so that the top of the pan was approximately in the middle of the oven?

Did you use convection? or bake regularly?

What temp and for how long did you bake at?

Did you check the cake for doneness?

A wooden toothpick or skewer inserted into the center of the cake, in the case of a bundt - halfway between the center edge and outside edge, should come out with only a very few dry crumbs on it.

Bundt's are easier to bake correctly because of that center piece.

A carrot cake is much denser and takes longer to bake. I'd DEFINITELY start by checking the oven temp.

Hmmm. Most of my cake recipes say to turn the cake out of the pan while the cake is still hot, the only ones that let it cool are those with some kind of filling.

So you were supposed to let it cool for 20 minutes before taking it out of the pan? I think that would cause a problem for me.

Now, the other thing is with bundt pans they often have weird little spaces and crevices. Make sure you take a brush and get down into all those little crevices with your shortening or whatever and then dust with flour. My nonstick pans never really are.

My round layer cakes I usually cut a piece of waxed paper the size of the pan, then grease the pan, add the paper, grease the paper and flour. I turn the layer out while it's still hot and peel the waxed paper off the bottom. It never seems to stick....

Annie

Hmm,,, yeah, I've always seen recipes say to cool for ten minutes and no longer, then turn out. That's how I always do it. I usually hold the pan in one hand then give it a good smack with the other to make sure it's loose. Sometimes I do the line the pan thing but usually I just grease well and flour. I'd think waiting for twenty minutes would cause condensation and sticking.

Oh, I agree with Annie1992 and coconut-nj. You let the cake cool for 10 minutes then turn it out to cool on a grid.

Annie and coco, when you use parchment - how do you prevent it from wrinkling? The bottoms of my cakes baked with parchment rounds always seem to end up with a wrinkle in them so now I avoid parchment if at all possible?

I spray the heck out the pan with Baker's Joy and then let the cake cool about 10 mins after baking before trying to get it out.

Tracey

Hmmm....I let my cakes cool longer....and it shrinks away from the sides of the pan. With a particularly sugary cake, sometimes it sticks and I have to pop the cake back into a 400 oven for about 3 minutes to melt the sugar on the pan...But I find a cool cake is firmer than a moist one...
but I am not a big cake baker....I'm better at pies.

loves2cook, if I grease the pan first, then put in the round of parchment or waxed paper (I put the pan on the paper, draw around it with a pencil and cut the round out), the grease helps the paper stick to the bottom of the pan and it doesn't wrinkle when I grease the top of the paper and flour the whole thing.

Did that make any sense at all?

Annie

I have never sprayed with pam and then floured. I use either butter or solid shortening and then flour or use the spray. Maybe you should try the spray called bakers joy. It has the flour in it.

Thank you everyone for so many great albeit conflicting responses!:)

Linda you may be right. Maybe I did wait too long. However if that's so why on earth did the recipe say to pop it out after exactly 20 minutes? I did make it as written without tweaking. That's a good question.

Lovetocook: I did go through all the usual steps that I have when making a bundt cake in the past. Checking for doneness etc., While it is true my oven is a bit of a clunker it has cooked well enough in the past. I think the issue was more the pan and the cake consistency than my oven.

You all had some great thoughts. I have decided to pick up a carrot cake cake mix and bake it in my regular pans on Friday night. Just in the name of experimentation. I would never present a cake mix cake to someone I care about for their birthday but I am going to ponder your suggestions, decide on a course of action and try it out. I'll let you know how that goes:) In the meantime I'm searching for a good carrot cake recipe with homemade frosting for the 'real' cake that I'll be making soon.

Again much appreciated all.

Kate

Kate

Are you anywhere near Chicago? I'd love to bake with you.

I live in Northern California. But thanks for your willingness. I'd probably drive you or any sane person absolutely nuts in the kitchen:)

Kate

Recipezaar has a recipe called "Pan Release". The reviewers say the cakes just fall out of the pans. I've made some and so far it is everything they say it is. Try it and see what you think. Link provided below.

I've had mine in a lidded container in the door of my fridge for about three weeks and it has not separated or changed in texture at all.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pan Release

Thank you Ilene. I'll check that out.

Kate

Further to what JoanM said, there is also a mixed product called "Pam for Baking" that I've had fine luck with. I used to make Bundt cakes in the 70s doing it the old fashioned way with no problem, then for some reason when I tried it again a few years ago had the same problem til I got this.

I'm going to check out Ilene's recipe though too. Oh, and I don't know how I ever made layer cakes without parchment! Best stuff ever, and I do like was mentioned above and no wrinkles for me either.

Kate - I am in N.CA (see my name - Aptos,CA). I have been baking cakes, or helping, for 50 years - honest. If you are close by and want some baking help let me know.

Tip I found out the hard way, solid shortning or butter then flour works better on metal pans then spray. That is what I, and my Mom who taught me, used years ago and it always worked. Sometimes the spray stuffs works and sometimes not.
Clare

Clare:

Thank you very much for the feedback and your willingness. I see you are relatively close about five hours away. I live in Quincy. I am pretty green when it comes to cooking and baking especially so I'm sure to have more questions. Perhaps I could email you from time to time when I get stuck:)

I'm going to try shortening. Since I really don't cook with the stuff that would be a good use for it. I'll try that. So shortening and then flour on my metal bundt pan.

I'll keep you posted on my results.

Kate

Regular Pam tends to pool in the bottom of Bundt pans, especially when the pan sits around for a while after being sprayed, so if you have to use it, don't spray the pan in advance--wait until the very last minute, when you're ready to pour the batter in. But I agree that the baker's formula, with flour in it, is far superior for using on cake pans.

I'm going to try that pan-release stuff, too. Thanks for the link, Ilene!

Kate - email me anytime and if I can help, I will. If I can't, someone on this forum will be able to do so. I am still learning things from all the knowledgeable people here.

And if you are ever in Santa Cruz, stop by and say hi.
Clare

Good evening everyone.

Ever since this post and reading everyone's helpful info I have been wanting to try this again. Make peace with my bundt pan. So I picked up a carrot cake mix (I think Betty Crocker)and found the below recipe to try. I freely admit to using the easiest, simplest recipe I could find in case I had pan removal failure again.

Well I am happy to say the cake came out just as smooth as smooth can be! I used Pillsbury with flour spray and followed the advice of not spraying the pan until right before I added the batter. Cooked exactly forty minutes and after ten minutes the cake came out very nicely. I could not find Baker's Joy at our grocery but the Pillsbury seems comparable.

Not sure if I'm going to drizzle some frosting or make a glaze. I was so nervous about it sticking and falling apart again I didn't plan that far ahead:)

Again thank you everyone. Your input is really valuable to me.

Kate

Here is a link that might be useful: Carrot Cake IV

Kate, that's a perfectly beautiful cake. I'd glaze it, of course, maybe sprinkle it with some chopped nuts. Gotta gild the lily, you know. :-)

Actually, I just like frosting....

Annie

Great to see the results of your latest endeavor!

I used to use Baker's Joy, but was not happy with the results--I don't know if it's still made--but I DID try the pan release recipe at the link that ilene included. It works great with loaf pans (blueberry bread, corn bread etc), but I have not used it with bundt cake pans or with "unpapered" cupcakes. I'd guess it would do the trick with them too.

Thank you both very much. I admit I was holding my breath when the timer went off after 10 minutes to take the cake out. Turned out there was no reason to worry though so I was happy.

Annie I like your idea of chopped nuts. I'm going to take this to a friend who had a death in the family this week. I am not sure on the glaze, that sounds yummy. I also have a can of packaged cream cheese frosting but was wondering if I could nuke it for like 5 seconds and then pour it on the cake? I've never tried that before.

Thank you Sooz. Interesting you had good results with the homemade pan spray. I'll have to try that sometime. I have not ever tried a cake pan with parchment paper but always use liners when making muffins. That's because I'm lazy though and it makes clean up so easy:)

Kate

Kate ,

That cake looks just perfect. If anyone can solve cooking and baking related problems it would be the wonderful people here.

Stacie

Thank you Stacie. Just as you say the folks here have been really been wonderful. To that end my husband helped me make a vanilla glaze for the cake which worked out really well. Actually I'm so green when it comes to baking I messed up and added too much sugar but he kept adding milk until the consistency was right and then he very deftly poured it onto the cake. I appreciate any help I can get in the biggest way:)

Kate