Hi, all, I'm still pretty new to all of this fun and games.

I've made several cakes, (That I'll eventually put in my photos!) and it seems that my downfall is having crooked sides. All my cakes end up looking like they're leaning!

How, besides simply eyeballing them, can I make them stand STRAIGHT!?

TIA!

I need help with that too!

A level.... I bought one at Target (bright pink) and is for food use only. After you torte and fill each layer I get down to eye level and spin the cake making sur the whole thing is level. If it was too high, then you can flatten it slightly in parts. After it is level, I do a thin layer around the sides and fridge it for about 20 minutes then crumb coat. In warm weather I need to do this extra step or my crumb coat will shift the layers.

I use the level after you have eyeballed it and before you crumb coat.

gonna have to get my own pink level! Thanks for the tip.

Movingritealong- You were talking about the sides of your cake, not the top, correct?

If you use a bench scraper to smooth your icing, you can hold the scraper flat against turntable, and let the cake circle (cardboard or foamcore) guide you. Because the scraper is already at a 90* angle, You will get nice straight sides

Yes, I was talking about the sides, thanks. Altho, I suppose a level could work for that too! lol

Thanks everyone!

What is a bench scraper?

a bench scraper is just a piece of metal.....sometimes with a handle and sometimes with the one side kinda rolled up....it's used to do the icing on cakes like mentioned above and was invented to scrap the bench lol meaning when you're working with dough...sometimes it starts to stick to your kneading surface and you just scrape it up....I made my own out of aluminum flashing...works great with MMF when it starts to stick to my counter....I love it...iit's also great for making dinner when you're chopping lots of veggies and you wanna scoop em' up and put them in the pot.

http://cooksdream.com/Merchant2/images/ateco_benchscrapersbig.jpg

Make sure to hold it flat against the bottom! I use a bench scraper and sometimes my sides are still crooked!