A 3-ingredient paste that prevents the dough from sticking to the molds.

When you spend an hour baking a cake to surprise your partner on their anniversary, bring it to your nephew’s graduation party, or celebrate your dog’s birthday, the last thing you want is to take it out of the oven and discover it’s stuck to the bottom of the pan. Or, worse yet, that you used too much baking spray and now the top of the cake is burnt in weird spots.

Baking spray can be a blessing in the kitchen, but it can also be unreliable and difficult to use when trying to coat unevenly shaped pans. Plus, the spray can run out pretty quickly, leaving you spending extra money every time you want to throw a cake in the oven. Nonstick parchment paper is an option, but it can be a pain to cut and maneuver when you’re in a hurry. Luckily, there’s an easy alternative to baking spray that you can make with ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. Bakers affectionately call it “pan pap” or “cake pap.”

Cake Goop only requires three ingredients

It may sound like something out of a child’s wildest imagination, but cake goop—also known as homemade “pan release”—is real, and many bakers prefer it to store-bought sprays. Consisting of equal parts flour, vegetable oil, and shortening, this three-ingredient alternative baking spray is easy to use and can save even the most complicated baking projects from getting stuck in hard-to-reach places.

To make your own pie filling, combine ½ cup flour, ½ cup vegetable oil, and ½ cup lard in a large bowl. Beat until smooth, then spoon mixture into baking pans. Spread into a thin, even layer with a brush or napkin, pour mixture into pie crust, and bake according to pie instructions.

Once your masterpiece is ready to come out of the oven, you should be able to easily and evenly remove the cake from the pan. You can store the goop in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one month and bake as much as you want!

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