LEVELLING CAKES
Dear all,
I have another failing that frankly I am not sure how to overcome in the cake decorating field - and that is that I more often then not end up with slightly crooked cakes! I have invested (at great expense bearing in mind the weak dollar to the rand) in an ANGAY cake slicer, my husband has bought me a square, I do my cake fillings by means of a piping bag to ensure an even consistency - yet, lo and behold, my cakes still have a penchant for leaning a tad! I generally use sponge cake for most of my novelty cakes, and would really appreciate some really good advice and pointers. Following advice from this forum, I also now place a flat tile on top of each torted cake tier for at least a night before stacking, and this has helped enormously with the bulging layers - but oh dear, I still make skew jobs! Help please :-)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Danielle Dyskin on
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I find that swearing at the cakes loudly and often helps me feel better (even if it doesn't make the cake more level)
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Permalink Reply by Katy Nott on
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Ah Danielle - just too funny! Mandy - been there, done that, worn the t-shirt and had the soup, so I know exactly where you're coming from. Is your cake level in the first place when you take it out of the tin? That is usually where I come unstuck - I just don't seem to be able to spread the batter evenly in the tin before baking - drives me NUTS! Not sure what a ANGAY cake slicer is, but I bought a thing that looks a bit like a junior hacksaw, where you position the wire cutter on slots for the height you want. absolutely useless in my hands. It says use a sawing motion and I just found it ripped the cake to bits. I have tried levelling with a very sharp boning knife and then usually just end up with a very thin cake............. So, sorry, I'm no use to you, but thanks for posting this question - I look forward to the answers from our experts.
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I once bought the Wilton cake leveller for about $60 - it was totally useless and a waste of money (fortunately I was able to resell it on ebay). I have seen some advertised here for a few hundred dollars but am not ready to spend so much money on something which may or may not help. I have now gone back to using a very long bread knife. I hold it horizontal and cut a little bit into the cake all the way around and then keep turning and going in deeper. Supposedly if the cake is very cold it is easier but frozen cake is too hard to do this way.
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Permalink Reply by art deco cakes by galidink on
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i am with you on this one Katy ! I FOUND IF YOU START BUY INSERTING A SERATED KNIFE OR VERY SHARP KNIFE , AND JUST HOLD IT STILL AT THE SAME LEVAL WHILE TURNING THE CAKESTAND , IT WORKS BETTER , THATS THE WAY I DID IT WHEN I WORKED AT SHOPRITE ! , I DONT KNOW ABOUT MY SPELLING , HOPE YOU CAN READ IT ,MY MS , SAYING THINGS 2DAY !! LOL
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I get you completely Gail, no problem. I hadn't thought of putting the cake on a turntable to do it. Obvious really...I'll try that next time.
Danielle what you do it pretty much the way I do it - but Gail's suggestion of turntable I think could be a good one.
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HOPE IT WORKS FOR YOU , I FIND IT THE ONLY WAY I CAN GET IT EVEN ! YOU JUST NEED TO MAKE SURE YOU KEEP YOUR ARM AND HAND STILL ! AND KEEP TURNING ,
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Permalink Reply by Mandy Nel on
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Ooops my spelling today ...... (and many other days ...) - its AGBAY and it is an absolutely brilliant cake slicer (if you google it you should also come across their promo video - and it really does cut that thinly) - and what I do is when I slice my layers, I generally also slice the top level so its not in my levelling - its somewhere between putting filling inbetween layers (mostly make use of buttercream or beaten ganache as "mouse") and then all levelness seems to disappear - my hubby has become quite the sharp eye around me and of course when he makes any comment, I generally am not a happy camper, even though my eyes tell me what his lips are saying :-)
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@ Gail - do you have a shoprite in the states as well? I somehow thought it was a South African chain of stores ....
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OH YES ! MANY, NY ,NJ ,PA ,
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Wow Mandy - just watched a vid on youtube that demo'd the AGBAY thing. Awesome bit of kit - but ouch pricey.
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YES VERY PRICEY! LOL
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