To use foil instead of baking parchment?

[IndigoTea]

For baking of course

MIL thinks there is no way that foil could be substituted, but foil is so much easier to put on round baking trays than baking parchment which requires scissors, pencil and something to keep it down.

But...

I guess it depends what you're baking. Wouldn't work for cakes, meringues, cookies or pastry.

What Horatia said ^^.

I've made cakes and it worked fine

Yes
a) Foil conducts heat better than baking parchment so your baking might be a little browner round the edges
b) Baking parchment is non stick. I know there is a non stick foil now, but I don't findit as non stick as baking parchment.

I couldn't imagine using foil instead of baking parchment. I don't find using baking parchment difficult. You don't need scissors. Put the round tin on a table which has a table cloth on it, put tin on top and run the point of a sharp knife around the tin as close as you can to the side of the tin. The circle for the base will be cut out.

If it's a cake tin with sides lightly butter the sides, you don't need to line the sides. The only thing the sides need lining for is if it's a soufflé which will rise higher than the sides of the container.

Silicon moulds, sheets, cake "tins" are easier than either...

I've had a good few sticking disasters with foil. Not sure why some things stick to foil and others don't... I don't use it for baking now.
Also foil conducts/reflects heat in a way that paper doesn't, so in theory things could get scorched.
But if you have used it successfully in the past then no reason why you shouldn't carry on.

Yep. Foil's fine.

Whenever I've baked a cake in a particularly intricate tin I use foil as it can be moulded into all the nooks and crannies.

Haven't tried it as a substitute for greaseproof, but when I make the Christmas cake I wrap the tin in foil rather than brown paper and it works just as well but a million times easier.

I have used foil. Works fine.

However. don't bother drawing round the bottom of the tin and carefull cutting out circles of paper. Its a faff. Just rip off a rough square fold it over the bottom of the tin and shove it down so the overhanging paper is trapped underneath between the bottom of the tin and the bottom edge of the side of the tin.

I don't line the sides - just grease.

Roughly cut the parchment to the shape you want. Run it under the tap and squeeze it out like a cloth, then you can poke it into corners of the tin - Jamie Oliver tip.

Get some 'cake release', it's bloody brilliant stuff...

does both jobs

Just use parchment foil if you really need parchment. You can mould it more like foil as it's foil on one side, parchment on the other.

Thanks everyone! Parchment foil seems like a perfect option