Hi all!

Will you please take a look at the attached picture. I want to make sure I am using the correct type of knife to trim my cakes. The knife on the right is about 4 inches longer and has a more of a jagged edge to it.

I will be using this to trim the bulge that sometimes occurs on the side of your cakes when setteling happens. This is not the icing/dam bulge. This is the cake bulging. Sharon Zambito shows this in one of her DVD's.


Thank you

I use a pizza cutter on the bottom to trim fondant.

I will be using the knife to trim a bare cake, not fondant. It will be a buttercream cake. However, sometimes I have bulging when I leave my cakes to settle overnight.


Thanks !

The cake itself bulges? Not the filling, the cake? REALLY? Are you sure your pans have perfectly straight sides?

That is correct.

Sometimes when I leave the cake to settle overnight the cake itself, not filling will bulge out.

In one of Sharon Zambito's DVD's, I forget which one. She shows a cake that she baked and let sit overnight. This cake had a bulge on the side. She then trims the cake to a perfect even curve.

It is hard to see what kind of knife she uses.


Thank you!

Waitaminit. A curve? What curve??

The curve on a round cake??..

Thanks.

I get that bulge sometimes, too. I just use a long, serrated blade and cut down, with the blade perpendicular to the cake (horizontal). Trim, turn, trim, turn, etc. until it's all even.

I don't like holding the knife parallel to the cake (vertical). I feel I don't have as much control.

Leah, it's as if there is a lot of air in the cake, or something. After torting and filling, while it's settling (I use a weight, like you do) the bottom layer expands. Looks like an innertube. Next time it happens, I'll take a pic.

DianeLM...

Thank you for a better explanation of this issue =) Is the blade I have pictured the same type of knife you use?

Sharon uses a knife like you have posted. Just make sure it is long enough and sharp.

Thank you Madmillie!!

I wasn't sure....could not remember which DVD it was..

=)

You're welcome. I think she talks about the knife in more than one of her videos. I know for sure in the Totally Topsy Turvy DVD and I think Successful Stacking DVD. She is really good about rescponding to emails and providing links of where she purchases her supplies.

Madmille...

Sharon is really good about responding to my emails. However, I bug the crap out of her via Pm'ing, I was trying to avoid sending another pesky message =)

I was hoping others would help........As always the CC community came thru!!

Thank you and everyone else for the help

=)

That's not the exact same knife I use, but I do use a serrated blade as opposed to a straight blade.

I think that the one that I use is a 6 or 7 inch "utility" knife. It needs to be pretty sharp and the cake durable. I think Sharon's instruction is on the fondant dvd.
The "inner tube" is a pretty good descriptive word for what sometimes happens when the cake settles. I don't always have to trim, but sometimes I do. I use Magic Line pans and I still have some bulging sometimes.
I usually do not trim with my bc covered cakes, b/c I can get the bc thick enough to hide any slight bulge.
I use a thin coat of bc before applying the fondant, so any imperfection shows that's underneath.

A durable cake is ideal, but when I've had to deal with a fragile cake, I just pop it in the freezer for about 20 minutes to firm up the outside before I hit it with the knife. Then, back in the freezer for a few more minutes before the spackle or crumbcoat.