to me how you are supposed to cut a tiered cake? I had made my daughters My Little Pony Cake (my photos) and of course I had different flavors. When I started to cut the bottom tier first for the kids the pieces were not that big at all. So I ended up making a mess and pulling off the tiers from each other so that I could cut bigger pieces and get to all the tiers and flavors, because I did that I was also pulling off the Icing with it. 
Can someone please explain to me in what order do you cut a cake? Someone told me that you start with the top tier and work your way down 
, but what if it is a wedding cake and the top tier is for the 1st Anniversary. HELP!!!!!! 
Sorry so long!!!!! 
You do have to take apart the tiers before cutting a tiered cake. It's not pretty, but better than the cake tipping over when you're cutting it!
So once it's all apart, it doesn't really matter where you start. You can pull the top one off and save it.
I'm going to find you the cake cutting links and be back in a few.
The last time I cut cake was for a friend's wedding. Someone else did the wedding cake. So I had no idea how the cake was put together. We just removed all the decoration, removed each layer and set them aside. Put aside the top layer for the 1st anniversary. Then cut the cake one layer at a time. I have found that an electric knife works great when cutting a cake made with store bought fondant.
At a wedding I disassemble the cake before cutting. I always start with the largest tier and then cut the 2nd largest, etc. The reasoning is if they have any cake left over (and they always do!) it will be the smaller, easier to store, tiers rather than a big 'ole honkin' tier that won't fit in gramma's freezer. I have never and would never cut a cake from the top down and I've been doing this 25 years.
I use the straight-line method of cuting. I hate the circle method. The reasoning here is (1) no one can cut a perfect circle and (2) how do you cut the outer circle on the front of a 16" cake when you're standing behind the table?
If you go to my pics there are 5-6 photos showing how I cut a wedding cake. (last page....last 6 pics).
Hope this helps!
indybebi,
How do you keep the icing on the top of each tier. Most of my icing came off with the tier above it. Also how did you take each tier off. Mine was 3 tiered with 4 dowels in each of the bottom 2 tiers and then a center dowel straight down the middle of all the tiers and it was murder getting the tiers off not to mention I had icing all over my hands (not a bad thing) and my hand prints all over the cake. What is your trick?
I use the straight-line method of cuting. I hate the circle method.
Indydebi - when you cut this way (which I also prefer) do you get the same amount of servings as the circle method directions suggest?
Thank you for this post! This has been very helpful to me as well!
Brianna
I never (!) mess with a big 'ole center dowel thru all of the cakes. I cut a cake for a bride once who ordered the cake from someone else. This person put a center dowel in the cake and I have never cussed so much in trying to take a cake apart in my life! What a mess! It made me think, "Geesh, I do this for a living and can't figure this crap out! What does a bride and her family do since they DON'T deal with this everyday? How frustrating is this for THEM?"
If they made me queen of the world, I swear I'd make center dowels illegal!!!! 
I never deliver fully assembled .... I always assemble on site so a center dowel is not needed. I remove the top tier first and set it aside on the cake table, where it serves as a table decoration. If it's a stacked cake, I can usually lift the top 2 tiers off and set them aside while I cut the bottom tier. My tiers are on cardboard and plates, sitting on top of wooden dowels. I poke the knife under the edge of the plate until I can get my fingers, then my hand under the cake and just lift it off. At this point, I'm not worried about messing up borders or decor .... all of the photos have already been taken.
The secret to icing not sticking is to not have sticky icing. My BC crusts very well. As you can see in the pics, there is an indentation of the plate in the top of the cake, indicating the plate was sitting right down on the icing. But when it was removed, the crusted icing stayed in place.
I'm not sure exactly how many pieces I get from each tier, but I know I bake a 14 and a 10 (with a top tier that's not counted) for a wedding for 100. Once I'm there, I count chairs. Then, when the guests arrive and are seated, I can tell at a glance how many empties there are and exactly how many guests are there. This tells me how big or small I can cut the cake (can't explain this one .... it's just 25 years of doing it). So in general, I would say yes, I get 100 servings out of a 14/10, which is approx what the wilton chart says I should get.
I've had a few people suggest these cutting pics be put in an article .... I've no idea how to do that. 
(edited for a couple of spelling typos)
I've had a few people suggest these cutting pics be put in an article .... I've no idea how to do that.
Submit an article to Jackie and Heath. If you go to the articles tab above there should be a link to submit. You can attach pictures and description then they'll put it all together in the CakeCentral format for an article.
HTH
BTW great pictures!
I have been playing around in AutoCad to get approximately the same size serving pieces out of the cakes. I will try it with your cutting guide and see what we come up with for servings =)
I second (3rd, 4th, 5th) the tutorial! I looked at your pics indydebi, and those are perfect for a tutorial and would be so helpful to others=) Jen
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