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I'm making this next week (for guests, so I don't want to screw it up) Orange Olive Oil Cake. Of course it wasn't until I became married to the recipe that I saw it calls for a 10" round cake pan. That's about the one thing I don't have in this ridiculously well-equipped kitchen. The safe option is of course using a 9" pan and making cupcakes with the remaining batter, which is what I'll do unless I get some assurance that what I would rather do will work fine.

My understanding is that a standard 10" round pan has a capacity of 11 cups (not having one, I've never measured, but that's what I read from a couple of online resources). My Bundt pan has a (confirmed) capacity of 12 cups, so if this were the type of cake that I'm used to, I wouldn't think twice about it, I'd just use the Bundt. I've got a couple of concerns though about this particular cake.

Number one, the recipe calls for lining the pan with parchment. Obviously, that can't be done in a Bundt pan. The recipe starts with boiling down oranges in what could potentially be a very sticky syrup. If I were to use the Bundt, I'd probably spray with Pam. Just how sticky should I expect this cake to be? Is there anything more I should do to control sticking if I use the Bundt?

Secondly, the cake in a Bundt pan will obviously be taller but with a hole in the middle. Would you recommend dropping the temperature a bit? I'm thinking 15-20 degrees F, but I'm open to suggestions.

Just as an aside if you're interested, what do you think of this Orange Creme Fraiche as a garnish?

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    FYI: A cake pan is basically a cylinder, so the volume is easy to calculate: pi × r² × h. r is the radius (half the diameter, so 5). h is the height. Google will do the math and units conversions for you, and indeed give around 10 cups for 2 in tall.
    – derobert
    Dec 2, 2013 at 10:32

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Volume of a 10" cake pan will vary with the wall height (which varies by manufacturer). The 11 cup measure is for a 2" tall pan; if it calls for a taller pan, you might have issues.

As for how to deal with preparing the pan as you can't use parchment would be to butter and flour it; it generally works better than most cooking sprays. If you use a cooking spray, look for a baking specific one -- they have flour in them, so it behaves more like a floured pan when releasing.

You can also make 'cake release', which is a blend of shortening, oil and flour (equal parts by volume) that you can paint onto the nooks and crannies of pans with a pastry brush.

As for the cooking temperature, I would shorten the time before I started checking for it to be done, but I don't know that I would drop the temperature; when you do, you end up with less doming but a denser cake.

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  • I had forgotten about that cake release mix, I used to always have some of that around. Since keeping Pam handy, I can't even remember the last time I greased and floured a pan! The recipe doesn't mention the wall height of the pan, but the picture looks like the final cake is no more than 1.5". SAJ14SAJ mentioned something to me in chat that I might want to consider, so don't change that channel!
    – Jolenealaska
    Dec 2, 2013 at 5:01

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