How to Properly Cut a Cake ... (Read this: You'll Learn Something)

You're probably not sleeping well at night wondering how bakers decide on servings per cake... 

Well, actually you probably never really cared unless you were the unlucky relative who got stuck cutting and serving the cake. C'mon you know what I mean...  You start freaking out (just a bit): How big do i cut the slices? If I cut them too small then people will make me stand here longer holding a knife.  If i cut them to big, then big Aunt Bertha might not get a piece and, well, we just won't go there...

Beauty and the Beast Castle Cake

 Have no fear! Your humble baker is here! 


Step 1:  Get a Cake (I will demonstrate on my Beauty and the Beast Cake)

Step 2: Find the Dowel Rod

Step 3: Pull it out

Step 4a: Remove the top tier of the cake by placing your knife under the cardboard base

Step 4b: The trick is to gingerly slide your knife along the base and lift up so that you keep the bottom cake's fondant intact.  (So far so good!  Phew!!)

Step 4c: Don't drop it as you are putting it on a different serving platter!  

At this point, however, you might want to get your knife ready because, "The Beast really won't like what you did to his castle".

Step 4d: Decide which flavor cake you want to eat first, now that you did all that hard work.  (In this case it was vanilla with banana buttercream on the top tier and lemon with vanilla buttercream on the bottom.  Both flavors picked by my 4 and 2 year olds and both flavors were awesome!)

Step 5: Remove the dowel rods that were holding up the upper tier

Step 6: Cut a circle inside of the cake roughly where the top tier had been sitting

Step 7: Cut a slice about an inch or so thick, from the outer edge of the cake to where you made the circle cut.  (Meaning, leave the circle in the middle for more servings later.)

Step 8: Now you can have your cake and eat it, too!!  (And if you are thinking that this looks like a small piece; trust me, it will be a lot more than you think!)

 Step 9: Cut the top tier the same way.  (Or, since it is small, you could always cut triangular slices, but cutting it the same way as above will ensure that all the pieces will be uniform.)

Here is a picture of both kinds of cakes on a plate.  The slices don't look so small now, do they?  (I actually ate all that, and I'm so stuffed, I don't even know how to describe it!)