Tuesday, November 5, 2013

How to fix a broken springform cake pan

About a month ago I hosted Rosh Hashanah at my house. 
Dinner went well, everyone enjoyed the meal, and we had a lovely time.  

Next, it was cake time! For this special occasion I baked a great honey spiced cake in one of my springform pans.  

If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should check them out. These pans are great for cakes and desserts that are prone to fall apart when removed from regular cake pans. The springform pans have a special feature: the rim loosens from the base of the pan when you open the clamp.  You can't imagine how useful this is. I regularly bake in these pans, remove the rim and display my cakes on a nice serving platter or cake stand, thus avoiding all the mess and possible problems involved in removing a cake from a cake pan. Finally, if you have cake leftovers, you can reattach the rim to the base, cover the pan with and replace it in your fridge. It's a really great feature!By the way, some of the pans come with two different bases, for use as a tube pan or a regular round cake pan.  

If you don't have a springform cake pan I recommend adding one to your kitchen for delicate cakes, such as chocolate mousse cakes and cheese cakes, or as I use them for . As I was pulling it out of the fridge, it hit the fridge door and got a small dent on the top of the pan. I was a little upset, because I really like that pan, but I didn't give it much thought. After I served the cake I had some cake left and was planning on closing the rim back, and placing the cake in the fridge. To my dismay the pan didn't lock itself when I closed the clamp! 

Lucky for me I have a very handy Dad that was happy to take the pan with the rest of the cake to fix it for me!  Lucky for you :) he took photos of the very simple and quick process in case your springform pan ceases to function.

So how do you fix a springform cake pan? 

In the photo below you can see my springform pan. The long silver handle is the clamp handle. When pressed all the way to the left, the rim is closed and locked. When pulled to the right (as you can see in the next photo) the clamp loosens and the rim opens and you can detach the cake base and cake or dessert from the rim. 





The yellow arrow is pointing to a metal piece attaching the clamp hinge to the pan. 




In order to fix the pan all you need to do, is, use a set of flat nose pliers and bend the metal piece to the left, thus strengthening the clamp lock to its previous abilities. 


This are a couple of photos of the fixed pan! you can see how the silver handle is pressed against the side of the cake rim.


And another view from the top: 


My beloved springform pan is as good as new! 
If you found a great way to fix a baking appliance, tell me about it and I'll be happy to share it on my blog ! 

Happy Caking!





19 comments:

  1. Mine gradually got jammed in. As in every time I loosened it it loosened a little less, till it loosened no more then a few mm.Turns out some sort of thin greasy batter got baked into the slide crack and slowly jammed it. Took a a very long and thorough soda and vinegar washing to degrease the cracks I didn't even existed.

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  2. Thank you for a very useful piece of info. I was about to chuck mine out, and then I said "Wait a minute! These things are bl**** expensive, I'm sure there must be a way to repair it!" And I will.

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    1. I was assembling it all wrong with the base on top of the tin all my carrot cake spilled..so annoyed wanted to bin mine but a thought like yours came to mind these things are bl** expensive and only figured out how to assemble it days later
      ...glad I didn't throw it away��

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    2. Oh wow, glad to hear that you figured it out, and didn't throw it out!

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    3. So happy you fixed your pans!

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  3. This was sooooo helpful, I was about to bin my year old pan (which I love) when I tried your helpful tip and it worked! So I have my lovely pan back good as new, thanks so much!

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  4. Thank you for this extremely helpful information. The pans were brand new and leaked like a sieve. Now. they are the springform pans that I knew years ago and love again!

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    1. So happy to hear! Now you'll enjoy them for years to come!

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  5. Think laterally - you may have your pan upside down - base fits firmly now as it usually does.

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  6. I can't bake or cook very much at all. My wife wanted to through out the springform cake pan because of the spring being very loose and therefore unusable. I advised her there must be a way to fix it and she looked at me very skeptically like it was another thing that was going to get in the way and also that I am not a very handyman husband. Thank your Dad for me because I am now a hero in my own lunch box having fixed it ;-) and thank you for sharing the fixit hint on the web.

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  7. December 2021. After baking my Christmas cake my spring form pan wouldn’t close completely. Came across this post and problem solved! Many thanks for sharing your Dad’s solution and I am now a happy camper. Merry Christmas! 🎄

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  8. December 2021. After baking my Christmas cake my spring form pan wouldn’t close completely. Came across this post and problem solved! Many thanks for sharing your Dad’s solution and I am now a happy camper. Merry Christmas! 🎄

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  9. Thank you for posting this. I was able to fix my pan using needle nose pliers.

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  10. Thank you for sharing! Saved me from tossing my favorite pan.

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  11. So frustrated my pan didn’t close. Your tip worked perfectly! Thank you!

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  12. This needs to be a YouTube video. Thank you for saving me time and money!

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  13. This needs to be a YouTube video! Thanks :)

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