Here's my review of Cake Lining Paste.  This is also known as Cake Goop & works like cake release spray.  Less expensive & easier than lining with butter & flour, cakes will never stick again.  Excellent for using on bundt pans too.   Vegan, & can be made using gluten free flour.

Reviewing Cake Lining Paste

Alternative To Cake Release Spray

AKA Cake Goop

^{*Reviewed 07/01/20, photos updated 06/11/23}

Front angled photo of white table with glass jar of white lining paste.cake goop and a fancy silver bundt cake tin.

**Click to jump to section***

Just some examples of using Lining Paste/Cake Goop below:

Overhead shot on white table of intricate fancy detailed bundt cake on pink plate, viewed from above, with small siever and cranberries to the left.

Overhead of pastel blue coloured table and napkins, whole rhubarb pie, slice served, coffee and title.

Dining table with pink and white crockery and napkins, and a pink plate with triangle slices of yeast-free cheesy bread triangle slices.

Reasons To Use

Less Expensive
Easy & Quick To Make
Works Great & On Bundts
Vegan & Dairy-free
Works With Gluten-free Flour Too
Not Just For Baking & Cake Pans

Partial shot of a bundt pan wiith a lot of cake stuck in the bottom and text 'When you run out of lining paste...;

Reviewing Nancy’s Recipe

Most people will know who Nancy Birtwhistle is but if not, she won The Great British Bake Off, (The Great British Baking Show), series 5 in 2014. She shares daily baking and household tips on Instagram and on her own website, and most recently released a new book called Sizzle & Drizzle.

This is a recipe of hers I tried for my cake not to be partly stuck in the bundt pan. (Don’t you just hate when cakes stick in the pan?) Normally I would have brushed butter or baking spray on the insides of the tin and then lined with a coating of flour. My bundt pan is a good solid one, and usually comes out well, with just a few taps, but wanted to try Nancy’s recipe on this occasion, as I know a lot of people struggle with this.

Overhead shot of bowls and jug of labelled ingredients for lining paste/cake goop.

What Is Lining Paste Made From?

So I was making an orange drizzle cake to review, and before filling the bundt pan I made up Nancy’s lining paste.

Flour
Vegetable Oil
Vegetable Shortening

Cake lining paste (cake goop), is made up of Plain (All Purpose) flour, vegetable shortening (Trex/Crisco) and vegetable oil.

You simply mix the pieces of shortening and flour with a hand or stand mixer, until it resembles large breadcrumbs. Then mix in the oil gradually, while mixing, until you have a very thin smooth paste. And that’s it!

Where To Buy Vegetable Shortening?

The common US brand of vegetable shortening is Crisco. Vegetable shortening in the UK is a bit harder to find unless you know what you are looking for and where to look for it.

In the UK vegetable shortening is found under the brand names ‘Trex’ and ‘Crisp ‘N Dry’. These can be found where the butter is stored. Both are blocks, the Trex being in a white box and Crisp ‘N Dry wrapped like butter, in a block (Be sure to not use the Crisp ‘N Dry liquid/oil).

Both Trex and Crisp ‘N Dry are only found in the larger supermarkets like Asda, Tesco, Morrisons & Sainsbury’s.

How To Store Lining Paste?

Just store lining paste (cake goop), in a glass jar in the fridge and use whenever needed for your baking or cooking.

I found using a good brush, softens the paste enough to be able to apply it easily to your pan, straight from the fridge, with no need to come to room temperature.

Order Of Adding Ingredients

** Note at a later date, I prepared the cake goop, slightly differently. I beat the shortening before adding in the oil & mixing together. Then I added the flour and mixed well. This method worked just the same and was tested on the bundt cake in the photos further down.

4 photo collage of vrushing on white lining paste/cake goop on loaf tin, cake tin, and brushing in a bundt pan with text 'Applying Lining Paste'.

How To Apply Lining Paste

As I mentioned, I tested it on my bundt tin. I started brushing at the bottom, and on the middle area, working in upwards strokes. This is a tip for when making lava cakes or souffles, brush in upward strokes to encourage upward growth and brushing horizontally would create friction. See Photo.

Once the middle sections were done, I brushed up the sides in the same way, applying a thick generous layer, paying attention to the difficult areas of the tin. This is the best way to apply cake lining paste. It I have since heard, is also known as cake goop.

Then I simply filled the pan with my cake batter and baked as normal. After baking, as for all bundt cakes, leave in the tin to cool down. As this recipe included a drizzle, this was applied while ‘upside down’ if you like, so was cooled before I tried to turn the cake out.

3 photo collage of baked bundt cake in tin, turning over & out the tin in one piece using lining paste/cake goop.

Time To Release The Cake

Now normally I give my bundt pan a few taps to release it, but when I was applying my drizzle, I could tell the cake was not sticking to the sides of the pan. So after putting a tea towel on top of a cooling rack and flipping everything over, the cake literally just popped out. Nothing stuck. All intact, even though the cake was now softer with the moisture of the drizzle. You could see all the definition of the bundt cake. See Photo above.

4 photo collage of homemade lining paste in jar, fancy intricate designed bundt cake with the paste and cake out of the tin.

I was not too pleased with cake recipe I used, so will be using my own lemon poppy seed drizzle bundt cake next time and making it orange and lemon. But as for the lining paste, well I highly recommend it. It worked as it’s supposed to and was extremely easy to make and you don’t have to make it up every time you need it. A less expensive alternative to expensive cake release sprays or butter.

My Rating For Nancy’s Recipe

So for my rating of this recipe I give a

(10/10)

6 photo collage of adding lining paste to a fancy bundt tin, adding batter, relasing the baked cake and showing all insid eof the clean tin.

This is the highest I have ever given out when reviewing a recipe. And that is down to it “doing exactly as it says on the tin”! Well worth the under 10 minutes preparation time. Saves your beautiful cake being ruined and could not be simpler to make.

Buy Nancy’s Book

You can get Nancy’s book only via her website, and the cost includes delivery to overseas if wished, as well as it being a signed copy (for a limited period only). It is a big hardback with 400 pages and special SQ technology that enables you to watch the videos for the recipes on your mobile phone. Here’s a direct link to get the book: Get Nancy Birtwhistle’s Sizzle & Drizzle book .

Please also note, Nancy has advised that this book is ONLY AVAILABLE VIA NANCY on her website. Any on Amazon or eBay with very high prices, is not being sold by Nancy.

My Lining Paste Videos

Here’s a few videos of me making up the lining paste, applying it to a bundt pan and removing easily from a loaf tin. These show just how simply the cakes pop out of the tin.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN LINING PASTE

How to make your own lining paste at home

APPLYING THE LINING PASTE TO A BUNDT PAN

Applying the lining paste to a bundt pan

TURNING OUT BANANA BREAD FROM THE TIN

Turning out banana bread from a tin lined with cake lining paste

Top Tips For Cake Lining Paste

For hygiene & to preserve the life of the lining paste, remove a few tsp worth into a little dish & apply from that, rather than continually dipping into the paste jar.
For chocolate or darker cake, remove a few tsp of the lining paste from the jar & mix will a little cocoa powder & mix well. Add just enough to make the paste a pale brown colour. I include carrot cake & any cake or bakes using wholewheat/meal flour.
For Gluten Free version of the lining paste, just use a generic Gluten Free blend (plain/All Purpose flour).
Lining Paste Is Vegan and Dairy-Free.

Close shot of the inside of a fancy bundt cake tin, showing tiny piece sof cake crumbs and the cake releasing well with homemade lining paste/cake goop.

Recipe In Cup Measurements

1 cup (125g/4.5 oz) Plain/All Purpose Flour
(or Plain/A.P. Gluten free Flour)
⅔ cup (125g/4.5 oz) Vegetable Shortening
(Trex in UK or Crisco in the states)
½ cup (125ml/4.25 fl oz) Vegetable Oil

Just whisk all the ingredients together to form a smooth paste.

Recipe Yield

This will make and mostly fill a 500ml or ½ litre (17 fl oz) jar , (making about 2¼ cups worth of paste).

“How Long Does Lining Paste Last?”

Store lining paste/cake goop in the fridge and will keep as long as the shortest use by date of the ingredients.

Download The Review

Lining Paste Recipe Review 2022 Download

Latest How-To Video

2 photo collage of preparing to line Masterclass bundt pan with brown coloured lining paste.

For Darker Cakes

If you want to use on a chocolate or red velvet cake, take a few tsps of the cake lining paste out and mix in a little cocoa powder just to change the colour of it and use as before. The lining paste worked and again the cakes just fell out of the tin.

Failed bundt cake that stuck to the tin with no lining paste, on a cooling rack.

AFTER REVIEWING THE LINING PASTE

Reader’s Success

Since reviewing this recipe, I recommend it to all the time. People say they love it and will never use anything else. Many are now pleased they can use their pretty bundt pans at last, as it is awesome for those! Here’s a photo of Dona’s cake that just wouldn’t come out of the pan in one piece. She had tried several times, and the cakes always stuck. After I referred her to this cake lining paste, she has never looked back! Here’s what she had to say –

“I swear by the cake lining paste. Wonderful and life/bake changing! “
Dona Smith

my lining paste in a glass jar with a fabric cove ron lid and a llabel, on a wooden table.

DIFFICULT LEVEL – Super Easy, Beginner

Origins Of Lining Paste/Cake Goop

I have since discovered that cake lining paste, has been around for many years. I had thought it was used more in American kitchens, & known as cake goop. But I have also learned that some people in the UK’s great grandmothers used a very similar paste too.

Over time, this will of course change & slight variations will evolve. However, the same principles apply, as well as the same benefits.

Photo of caro from website caroline's Easy Baking Lessons, holding a measuring cup, and text 'Using Measuring Cups for making lining paste/cake goop'.

Some Lining Paste/Cake Goop Failures

However, I have heard some people say they have not had success with using lining paste in their bundt pans. And I have a possible reason for that. After doing some research on the internet, I see that US recipes, which mostly use cup measurements, are always listing as “equal parts” of each ingredient.

Now, since different ingredients, have different volumes & weights, when you actually convert say 1 cup flour (125g), and 1 cup vegetable shortening, that does not equate to 125g but 163g. Similarly, 1 cup oil is 240ml, not 125ml. So the discrepancy of nearly double the amount of oil, will make for an extremely thin paste – more liquid like.

Close and partial shot of 4 brass coloured measuring cups of different sizes, filled with homemade lining paste/cake goop, on pink and white teatowel with fancy bundt cake pan to the background.

Couple that with cups being an inaccurate form of measuring, and how it can vary from person-to-person and from cup-to-cup, it is no wonder there are some failures, with lining paste, or even in baking in general. My thought is, that original recipes were based on equal parts in ounces, using old scales in the UK, and perhaps packet sizings in the US.

Try my Conversion Table Of Common Baking Ingredients, that have all been hand measured by myself during extensive recipe testing, as Google can be both inaccurate and inconsistent.

2 photo collage of brushing lining paste on a pie tin with an artist brush, and same brish for egg wash on pastry.

Brushs To Use In Baking

I hate seeing professional on TV or YouTube, using silicone brushes for egg-wash or greasing. I really dislike the look of egg wash applied like that, as it is so obvious when baked (& if they just use egg yolk along, even more so).

4 photo collage of lining paste on cake tins, with batter and how it looks when out the tin, with text 'using lining paste.'.

Silicone Or Wooden Brush?

For a neater finished bake, & for this lining paste, I strongly recommend a wooden brush, with real or synthetic bristles. (You just need to be careful of them falling out). You do not need to buy a more expensive pastry brush. An unused artist brush works really well. You can have a few of different widths for different uses.

Having bristles rather than silicone, there are no gaps in-between. So you won’t miss any areas when egg-washing, or for this lining paste, you can apply a good layer, and not waste any or spend more time having to apply again for the areas missed.

Overhead shot of a pink white tea-towel, with fancy bundt cake tin, jar of whit epaste and used brass measuring cups for lining paste/cake goop.

Caring For Brushes

Just be sure to hand-wash your brush right away, and don’t submerge the wooden handle in water, don’t put in the dishwasher and leave to air-dry.

I have even used, unused make-up brushes for fondant work. Having small brushed to hand is always beneficial. I think I will write a blog on it – so look out for that.

Not Just For Cake Pans & Baking

This cake lining paste is good for any greasing or lining needs in the kitchen. Not just for cakes or baking, use in cooking too. Use for greasing pie tins or bread tins, anything you like.

Collage of 4 photos of lining paste on a bundt pan, with batter and figs, baked and the cake out of the tin.

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