Help Me Unstick My Pans

After putting away the dishes one night, one of us (ahem) did not secure the base of a 10" springform pan to it's ring. It slipped into a heavy 10" round cake pan, and the little bastard is stuck fast. I tried to pry it out, but there wasn't enough space. Placing it over a burner did nothing. Has this happened to anyone else, and what did you do?

Would a strong magnet work?

I could try! The springform bottom is Wilton, so it's thin.

Pie Lady wrote:I could try! The springform bottom is Wilton, so it's thin.

Maybe spray a little cooking spray around the edges first. Like chicken soup, it couldn't hurt. Oh, and if it's aluminum, the magnet idea won't work. Try a suction cup or small plunger instead.

stevez wrote:Oh, and if it's aluminum, the magnet idea won't work. Try a suction cup or small plunger instead.

The standard Wilton springform pan is made of aluminum and has a waffled bottom so neither the magnet nor the suction cup idea will work. If it's a different pan, one of those might be worth a shot.

I'm not sure there's enough space between the two bottoms but you might try adding water to the pan (just enough to completely fill the space between) and freeze it. The expansion of the water as it freezes might force the Wilton bottom up just enough to unstick it. You could do this repeatedly, adding a little more water before each freezing.

HI,

Try having it spend time in the freezer.

Meanwhile, I saw how to unstick two bowls.

Regards,

Rene G wrote:

stevez wrote:Oh, and if it's aluminum, the magnet idea won't work. Try a suction cup or small plunger instead.

The standard Wilton springform pan is made of aluminum and has a waffled bottom so neither the magnet nor the suction cup idea will work.

There is a small unwaffled square that I can try to use a suction cup on.

Success! After many, many tries. Here they are, in order of attempts:

Spreader - not skinny enough.
Burner - made everything very hot.
Magnet - was sticking to the Wilton insert just fine, but although it is a powerful little bugger, it wasn't quite enough.
Candy dipper/clam knife/offset spatula - the first two were not skinny enough, and the spatula just got bent.
Pan spray - made everything very greasy.
Pan spray, then burner - made pans laugh at my efforts.
Pan spray, then burner, then hammer - caused me to sound a little like Lewis Black.

Then I was taking some salmon out of the oven and I got an idea. What if I turned the whole mess upside down and left it in the turned off oven? Huzzah! At some point, the little bugger slid right out. Now I have a sticky mess to clean up, but I'm just glad to get both pans back.