Stuck on wax paper

    I haven't found wax paper to be good for one thing!  Garbage!  (just my opinion).   Instead of using wax paper try parchment paper next time...it actually works when used in the oven :)

  dan

Before i ever knew about parchment paper, i used waxed paper, and you have to grease the pan very well, THEN grease the PAPER very well and then flour the paper. 

However, when you do a jelly roll type cake, i don;t remember now, but either you have to remove the paper immediately or wait ten minutes then turn out and remove the paper.  I remember it worked one way but not the other. 

I years past I never got a jelly roll type pastry to work using wax paper to roll with.

If you line the pan with it, immediatly invert the whole thing once the cake is done, and peel off the paper. Rolling it with that wax paper, in my experience, just means you'll have wax paper stuck to the cake when it cools.

A better approach is to roll the flat cake, while still warm, in a floured dish towel. Once cool you can unroll it, spread your filling, and roll it back up. Works like a charm.

KY, you made me realize that I answered the wrong question.  It's not about the cake sticking while it cooks so you can't unstick it from the waxed paper, but it's about rolling the waxed paper up inside.  I always used a dish towel as well, except i dust the cake heavily not with flour but with powdered sugar, and then roll the cake up with the towel inside and leave it till it cools.  I think the waxed paper would make the cake sweat and then stick all over the place.  

Lovetocook, you didn.t say what kind of cake is a caramel log, and I wonder if the caramel is baked to the cake  rather than spread on it after baking, and so your problem is not letting it cool rolled up so you spread it later but of actually rolling up something very sticky.  If so, then it might not work that way (the towel way) either.  I used to make a cake that had a sticky topping baked under it (with butter melted on the foil-lined pan, then nuts and coconut and condensed milk, and a chocolate cake batter poured on top of it. Like an upside down cake mixture - is that what yours is like?)  You baked it then turned it onto a rack or flat pan covered with a sheet of waxed paper,  and then immediately removed the foil and rolled up the cake using the paper only to lift the cake evenly and roll it up.  In any case, not to have the warm cake stick to the paper, you dust it heavily with powdered sugar.  Maybe that was the clue for this cake you're making too. 
Edited by siduri - 2/27/10 at 12:54am

Thing is, Siduri, that many recipes, particularly older ones, do say to use the wax paper when you roll the cake. Apprently, that's true of LoveToBake's recipe as well.

Years ago I was continually frustrated trying to get that to work. And I imagine there were hundred, thousands of other people just as frustrated as I was. Seems that bad directions and untried (put published) recipes aren't just the stuff of modern cookbooks.

Even worse, I once had a recipe that said to use a towel to start the rolling. Sort of like making sushi. That way, the recipe said, the edge would stay even and not crumble. That part certainly was true. But don't dry unrolling a sponge that's been rolled up hot.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding this conversation. 

You're not supposed to roll the wax paper (or towel) into the cake.  Didn't you guys ever see someone use a Bambu roller?  The paper goes over, not in the roll.  You roll the edge over, so it touches the cake (or caramel log), and release the edge of the paper.  Roll a little more, and pull more paper.  The paper "backing" never goes in the cake.

If y'all already know this, then I apologize for writing it.   

Why would someone want to unroll a jellyroll cake?

My impression was that the OP was complaining about her caramel log collapsing into a flat "ciabattta" shape rather than retaining a more rounded log shape.  As I understood she considered that to be a consequence of the wax paper taking too much work to release.  She needs a firmer log and to rub a few drops of oil onto the paper before transferring the log.  

BDL 

Have to disagree, BDL. The "backing" does, indeed, get rolled up.

The idea is to be able to roll the cake while it's still warm. Then you gently unroll it, remove the backing, spread the filling, and reroll it. This helps the finished roll keep its shape.

Is such a step absolutely necessary? Not hardly. You can let the cake cool, spread the filling, and then roll it like making sushi. Sometimes it works. And sometimes you get a broken mess.
For pastry cooks, who do this often and develop a feel for it, the sushi-like rolling is fine. But for the occasional home cook, who wan't to make a rolled cake, using the "backing" method is much more efficient.

BDL and KY
Yes, I think there are two different kinds of rolled up cakes we're talking about here. 

1. Some have the "filling" baked in, like the one i used to make with the buttery, nutty, condensed-milky "filling" baked under the cake batter.  In that case, you use the towel or paper like rolling sushi (I guess, since I  never made sushi).  I suspect that's the original cake mentioned in the thread, though without the recipe i can't be sure.  Once the cake is rolled, it just stays rolled and the filling is already in it since it was under the batter.

2. The other applies to the actual "jelly roll" or "buche de noel" etc.  If you have the kind of cake batter that remains soft and pliable and if you haven't overbaked it so it got dry, and if you don't try to roll it too tight, you can probably get away with letting it cool flat and then filling and rolling up and it won't crack.  But for most of us, the foolproof way to go is to roll the towel up INSIDE the cake, (where the filling will go), and let it cool rolled up.  The cake is much more pliable when warm.  Then when you go to fill it, with ganache, jelly, whipped cream or whatever you like, you unroll it, leaving the towel underneath, spread the filling on  the semi-curled cake (cooling it retains some of its curled shape) and then use the same towel to help it roll up like sushi.  

Ok, this makes more sense.  I think you probably would do well to butter the paper, whatever paper it is, but also you would have to let it cool somewhat to roll, otherwise the melted caramels will not unstick.  I think the parchment paper would work better, since as someone said, nothing sticks to that. 

Wax paper is good for a few things, but not for many in the kitchen. Parchment is much better but fairly costly. I found that aluminum foil (relatively inexpensive) is as good as parchment for many purposes. To save money, I reuse parchment many times until it's beginning to fall apart for continued high oven heat. This way it's most cost effective.

I'm in the "Parchment" crowd too... Sugar can get pretty hot, and heat + wax paper = Candly fun!

Except if you're trying to eat it.