Parched.

Today I am grateful for parchment paper.

and I ain't talking bout no goatskin or calf skin parchment neither.

sorry. lame ghetto impersonation. moving on...

I'm not exactly sure when I decided to start using parchment paper with all my baking. Probably somewhere around the 20th or so cake that came out of the pan with half of it still stuck in it. acompanied by alot of curse words. alot. I tried other options. non-stick pans. crisco, lots of non-stick cooking spray. nothing worked. the universe was out to get my cakes and make them uneven!

(the universe is out to get me alot)

Then one day I saw the idea of using parchment paper as a cookie sheet liner. I don't even remember where I saw it. It was when we were living at are last apartment and I still had cable in my life, so maybe on the food network channel or something. anyway. I started thinking that if parchment paper works so well for cookies and such, I bet it would work as a cake pan liner too.

WHOOOOOOOOSHHHHHHH!

That was the sound of the earth shifting. for the better. my life will never be the same.

sounds dramatic I know. but it really is awesome. and now I feel kind of old. Hip 24 year old moms can get excited about parchment paper too. (I'll keep telling myself....) The cake just slides right out of the pan. no more sticking. I tried it with the cookie bars I sometimes make too. It was a beautiful sight. I wouldn't have even had to wash the pan if I didn't want to. and really? who ever really wants to wash a pan?

Tonight I am grateful for this non-stick revelation because I have been busy in my kitchen baking my sister's birthday cake. her 18th birthday cake. How in the hell did that happen? I was also making some treats to take to my best friend Ashley's puppy party tomorrow. so between the cake and the treats I was happy to have any step go a bit faster. and since the cake has three layers, but I only own two 8 inch round pans, having the ability to slide one of the finished cakes out of the pan right after it came out of the oven so I could start baking the next layer was very nice. If any of you bake I'm sure you'll agree with me. and if you don't bake but feel the urge, I suggest you try using the parchment paper. so you don't go postal when a giant chunk of your cake doesn't come out of the pan causing you to make the decision to never bake anything again.

Thanks for reading!
Lana