Most cake recipes suggest you line the bottom of your cake pans with waxed paper (old school) or baking parchment (new school). Well tracing and cutting out those circles for 2 or 3 cake pans is a lot of trouble. Here’s an easier way.
Cut a square of baking parchment, a bit bigger than you cake pan. For 8” cakes, cut a 9” or 10” square. It doesn’t have to be very accurate or even square: a rectangle will do just fine. We’ll cut off the excess as we go along.
Fold the square diagonally so that the left edge meets the top edge. This establishes that square. Any left on the bottom will be cut off.
Fold that triangle in half down the middle.
Then, keep folding down the middle until you have a little pointed triangle.
Lay that triangle on the bottom of the cake pan with the point at the center, and cut off the triangle at the edge of the pan.
Then, unfold it. It should be a circle that will just fit in your cake pan. If it is a little big, just refold it and cut off a little more.
Then, butter the pan, lay the liner inside, and butter it, too. That’s really easy. I did all 3 cake pans in about a minute! See the top picture for all three!
Food Science Institute 