What Type Of Knife Should You Use To Level A Cake?

Layer cakes are special — flat on top, frosted, and decorated, and it takes some real TLC to create these desserts. However, one of the biggest perils of a layer cake is getting each layer perfectly leveled. Most of us end up with layer cakes that look more like the Tower of Pisa or Fillipo Brunelleschi's famous dome at the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence. Why does this happen? Baking Kneads explains that the dome results from the middle of your cake baking slower and longer than the rest of your cake. But it doesn't have to be that way. You can make a perfect homemade red velvet layer cake, or a classic white cake that doesn't look like an alien will pop out of the top.

Why does it matter? Wilton shares that when you have level layers, your cake is more stable as you stack the layers, and it is far easier to add icing and write a beautiful and celebratory message. But if that isn't incentive enough, Baking Kneads explains, once you cut off that dome, you will rid yourself of the hard cake and instead are left with the moist parts. So what is the best type of knife to use to cut off that dome of your cake?

According to Taste of Home, you should skip the cake-cutting tools that some serious bakeshops may use and instead reach for a knife. The best knife to use when leveling your cake layers is a regular old knife you would use to cut bread. Baking Kneads concurs, explaining that using a serrated bread knife and a spinnable cake turntable will make accomplishing this task effortlessly. The site goes on to share that if you make a one-inch incision and spin the turntable slowly, you never even need to move the knife as you level your cake layers.

However, before you get overzealous with that bread knife, Taste of Home says that you want to ensure your cake has cooled off before cutting off that uneven layer of cake. Why? The food site explains that if you don't wait for it to be thoroughly cooled, it might fall after you've leveled it, and then you will have a layer that looks like a shallow bowl. What should you do with those cake scraps? Eat them, of course, or you can save them for cake pops for the kiddo's lunch.