This may sound silly, but does everyone cut their bought circles to fit their cakes. If so, how much room do you leave for the icing.

For exampel, if I'm putting an 8" cake on an 8" circle, no I don't cut it. What size cake and board do you have?

I do. But I also use a cake base and I dont like my cardboard showing. I dont cut it too small because the cake becomes unstable...but I cut it to the exact size of the cake. Then my borders I do on the base board.

I always cut mine (and wish somebody would sell ones that were about 1/2 inch smaller than standard sizes for this purpose!)

I guess I must not do my icing or borders as thick as most people, because if I didn't trim the boards, they would certainly show and look ugly!

For example, I put an 8" cake on an 8" board. I WANT the board a wee bit bigger, because that's where the icing goes. You use the edge of the board and a guide for your spatula/bench scraper to apply and smooth the icing. That helps keep the depth of the icing uniform.

Thanks for all the info. I have a 10" for a 9" cake and a 8" for a 6" cake. Any suggestions.

Place the pan on the cake board. Draw around it with a pencil. Cut.

I agree with Leah. I use the edges of the circle as a guide for how thick the icing should be and smooth around with the bench scraper.

Most cake decorating supply stores carry cake circles in a variety of sizes. It might be worth your time and money to check out a local cake store or on-line supply and get a variety of sizes to have on hand. I currently have 6,7,8,9,10,12, and 16 inch cake circles. It would save you the aggravation and time of cutting cake circles. Very convenient!