The Clever Cutting Method That Will Prevent Cake From Drying Out

Nobody wants a dry cake, but to keep your dessert as moist as possible, you're going to have to get comfortable with a knife. Knowing how to properly cut a cake is essential, whether you're aiming to maximize moisture or clean up your baking presentation. Learning how to cut even layers is crucial if you're aiming for neat and clean showmanship. Likewise, properly cooling your cake prior to trimming helps prevent the structure from crumbling. So long, sloppy cakes.

However, cutting a cake isn't just about yielding the neatest slice. In actuality, the way in which you cut your cake can impact the dessert's longevity and degree of moisture. Unfortunately, too-dry cakes are all too prevalent and can result from all kinds of baking blunders; using improper ingredients, choosing the wrong pan, or overbaking are just a few errors (via King Arthur Baking).

Yet one mistake is easily fixable. Adjusting for the potential of a dry cake has everything to do with how you cut your cake and your strategy for storing it after it's been baked.

Once exposed to the open air, cakes run the risk of drying out (via Masterclass). To maintain your cake's moisture long enough to maximize its servings, it's time to treat your dessert like a puzzle.

Retailer Williams Sonoma recently posted an Instagram tutorial of a creative cake-cutting strategy. Rather than cutting a cake in standard, triangular slices, Williams Sonoma recommends starting in the middle and cutting a slice the way you would a piece of bread. Extract the strip from the cake's center and then cut it into individual pieces. You'll notice a gap remaining in the middle of the cake, but you can close that by moving the two sides inward until they're touching. For your next trip, simply rotate the cake and repeat the process with another strip extracted from the center.

Although not a traditional technique, cutting cake strips is a surefire and creative way of containing your cake's moisture. If you'd rather not play cake Tetris — though we certainly think it's worth an experiment — you can continue to cut your cake in standard slices. Simply affix parchment paper to the open ends, and you'll retain your cake's moisture long enough to savor any slice or strip.