Hi.
Wondering how i get a perfectly square cake? I have a wedding cake in October and the bride wants a crisp square tiered cake.

Thoughts?

Normally mine come out with a rounded edge as opposed to a straight edge.

This sticky posted by Rylan has great tutorials. It's really helped me.
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-654103.html

This might help:
http://cakecentral.com/articles/109/how-to-frost-a-square-cake

there are some tutorials on youtube too

what kind of pans are you using?

I'm failing miserably too. I realize part of the reason is that I'm usng the wilton square pans which really don't have a square edge. Had I known I would have purchased the magic line pans. I'll have to keep practicing!

I found some pans at Wal-mart, in the pots and pans asile, that are perfectly square. They cost $11.00 each but well worth it. I can't remember the name brand but they are heavy, good quality pans. The sticker on them said "commercial grade". I noticed that they didn't fit inside of one another so I went ahead and bought them. Glad I did because they do have a perfect straight edge. Something my Wilton square pans don't have.

well the pans shouldn't matter as much if you get the trick on getting those sharp edges done with your buttercream...

I have the wilton pans (so that's what I have until I can buy more... and the ones with the sharper edges) but I get perfect edges because of how I do my buttercream coat....

hth

Another option would be to bake a cake one size larger than needed and trim it down to size. Then you will not only get nice crisp edges to work with, but it eliminates the possiblity of any dry corners that can sometimes occur with square cakes. Best of luck!

Trim the sides of the cake and it won't matter what shape the cake pans are.

When you ice it, use a smoother from the outside corner to the inside of the cake and work work, work the edges.

Nobody is perfect....the photo in the top post, the bottom left hand side of the bottom tier has the corner slanted funny.

Just had to do buttercream squares today and it was a pain in the butt, esp as I used crusting buttercream which I can never mix without air bubbles so the surface of my icing is not great. GRRR.

I have a noncrusting recipe that smooths alot nicer but the customer wanted the crusting...which I agree tastes better too but I never like the look of it.

I've tried mixing the ingredients different, doing it like Edna, etc...no luck. Maybe its my 6 qt mixer.

BUT a 6 inch putty/spackle knife works wonders for corners on square cakes!!!!

Thanks Everyone! I had done some research and i had thought about trimming the cakes and baking them in bigger pans. The tutorials look really good thanks for sharing.