I made a cake for a baby shower yesterday, and when I went to cut it, I had such a hard time! I had a 6", 2 layer and an 8", 3 layer tier to cut. I was trying to cut it as the Wilton guide suggests, but the pieces were falling apart and we couldn't get them onto the plates looking like well, a piece of cake! I had to cut bigger pieces just to try to keep it together.

Also, the fondant decorations were still soft when I put them on the cake, but I couldn't cut through them cleanly. So they were falling off onto the table and we had such a mess!

Did the the cake get too warm? It had a cookies and cream filling, which is soft. It had sat at room temp for about 2 hours before cutting it.

Can anyone help? I was embarrassed by this, and I want to fix it so it doesn't happen again. Thanks! Oh, the cake is the most recent in my photos, Quinn's baby shower cake.

The cake is absolutely gorgeous.

I usually do recommend that people take off fondant accents before cutting, because they do not cut cleanly.

As for the cake crumbling -- IMHO that is part of the problem with Wilton's chart -- it looks good on paper, but when you try to do it with real cake sometimes it's impractical. Have you seen Earlene's chart? I prefer her size breakdown:

http://www.earlenescakes.com/ckserchart.htm

The crumbliness could also have to do with your recipe (some cakes are more crumbly/tender than others), or your filling, or the fact that the cake was warm. Cakes cut easier when chilled, but unfortunately most taste best at room temperature.

I hope someone else is able to chime in with some cutting suggestions so this won't happen to you again!

Don't cut the whole circle before you start cutting the slices. If you do, they will want to fall out. I cut part of the circle, then those 3-4 slices, then more of the circle, etc... You can also forget they are rounds, and just cut it like a square. A few people get extra icing, but thats ok.

Next time try the strip-cutting method posted recenty by another CC member (sorry, don't remember which one). It's so much easier and neater!

You may be referring to indydebi's here:

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&meta=allby&uname=indydebi&pageID=3

Wow, nice cake. Your piping looks so perfect!

Crazy Cake Lady

Kelley, I can't believe you remembered that from January! I am so complimented! Thank you!

I've also put this on my website, with step-by-step instructions:
http://cateritsimple.com/_wsn/page19.html
(when I posted those pics on here, I didn't know that the pics actually showed up in reverse order! )

yup, her cutting method works great. have done it that way since that thread back in Jan(?) and wouldnt go back. the round cake cutting guide is a joke, trying to get wedges...just isnt practical.

Debi, I have cake books That have less information than you. When you have something to say, I read!

Thanks so much, everyone! Indydebi - your way makes so much more sense! And I will have to get a cake cutting comb - My little cake server just wasn't "cutting it"! heehee.

Although it surprises me that you should have to take mmf decorations off to serve it cleanly. It seems such a shame.

I just posted this on another similar thread, so thought I would share the numbers here, too.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by indydebi

I've rec'd a number of other inquiries on how many pieces I get by using my cutting method, so I FINALLY took the 10" pan and drew a circle around it on a big piece of paper and measured out the cuttings.

The wilton chart shows 38 pcs for a 10" pan. I got 42 using my method.

I did the same with the 12" pan. wilton chart shows 56 pcs .... I got 60.

Now, it's easy to draw nice straight lines on a piece of paper (paper is amazing that way ..... it will lay there and let you write anything you want on it! ) ... so while I got 10% more pcs (on paper), I would be conservative and go with the Wilton chart for number of pieces.