How do I get the first piece of cake out of the baking dish without wrecking the first piece itself?

For a cake, the best way is to take it out of the pan before you frost it. Here's the way to do it: - Before baking, grease and flour the inside of the pan. You can also cut a circle of parchment paper and put it in the bottom of the pan to prevent the cake from sticking. - After baking, let the cake cool. This is important, because the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan as it cools. - When the cake is cool, use a paring knife to go between the pan and the edge of the cake. - Put a platter or plate (or ideally, a cardboard round) upside down over the pan. - Invert the pan. You're should almost slam it down on the counter. - Remove the pan and voila! This method is also nice because the bottom of a cake is usually more even than the top, and so it looks better when you frost/finish it. As for the pies -- you can't really take most pies out of the pan. The one thing I've found that really helps is to make sure the pie is really cool before cutting into it -- cool pies tend to ...  more