Hi Everyone,

Im having problems torting my cakes. they always end up completley different heights and i have to mess about with the buttercream filling to try and even up the height.

i was looking at cake levelers (i need one for big cakes i saw one that goes up to 18inches) but im worried they wont drag through the dense madeira or chocolate cakes i do. i saw reviews on the Agaby leveler but i cant afford it so are the others worth it? i think its a wilton one i saw or a similar priced UK version but i dont want to waste my money.

Does anyone here use a leveler?

I have the wilton one. Eh. Not my fave, but better than I can do eyeballing it with a knife. Hopefully somebody will love me for Christmas and get me an Agbay.

Do you think its definitly better than a knife? cant be much worse i suppose, the 10 inch cakes are a nightmare to try and get a knife through

I have both the Wilton ones. The smaller one with the wire and the larger one. I have problems with both of them. Due to the moisture of my cakes, they never seem to cut smoothly and I wind up using a knife.

I just have the small Wilton one and although it's a bit of a pain, it works better for me than trying to eyeball it. Like a pp said, an Agbay sounds like a good Christmas idea....

~Sarah

I have both the wilton ones and I hate the small one b/c the wire does not stay tight so they don't come out level. I really like the big one, it goes through the cake easily and works so much better than the knife.

I use the smaller Wilton one. I have no problem with the wire. I would love an Agbay ... but at least with the Wilton one, I have a better shot at straight than with a knife. I can barely walk a straight line, let alone try and cut one. LOL

I just ordered the big one. I put dye on my small one and run it around the cake, then I use a steak knife(it just works great I don't know why). score the crust then use the wire cake cutter to level the cake. A bit of a pain but it works well.

I have both Wilton ones. I haven't used the small one in a long time, but it never gave me any problems. The big one will never be used on another of my cakes. I have chopped up more wedding cakes than I like to think about. I'll have to save up for an Agbay, but will use a bread knife until then.

Martha

I have the Agbay and LOVE IT but I saw a tip on here a long time ago that I wish I'd known about before I had it.

After baking, turn out your cake to cool. Since (Wilton at least, I assume most others are as well) cake pans are 2" high, place it back in the pan and using a long bread knife slice off the dome even to the top of the pan. Now remove the cake and place a 1" tall piece of styrofoam into the pan. Place the cake on top and cut even with the top of the pan again. You should have two perfectly even tortes.

It is another investment but far less than the Agbay until you can afford it. Last time I ordered styrofoam dummies, I wanted a 3" tall tier. I asked the man who was taking the order if he thought I could just cut them and he said "I can cut whatever you want, 5", 2 3/8", whatever" so ask and see if you can get 1", I'll bet they will.

I got the wilton one and have been really dissapointed with it. I'll probably send it to the thrift store because it's just taking up space. I love my bread knife the blade is 12 inches long and it is nice and sharp cuts through everything ( including your hand so be careful)

This basically shows in photos what marccrand posted about above: http://www.creativecelebrationcakes.co.uk/page40.htm

I had the big Wilton one, and I didn't think it was too bad. You just have to make sure the blade doesn't bend or twist (because it can). Don't even think about buying the little Wilton one though.

marccrand ~ thanks for the tip!! Most of my pans are 3", but I'm going to have my hubby cut some styrofoam 1 1/2" and that should do the trick!
Easy, inexpensive and still sounds like it'll work great!! Thanks again!

Thanks for the visual FlourPots! Just shows that great ideas have all been around forever, you just have to know where to find them. I defintely would've used a longer knife than the example did though. I've got a long, thin bread knife that could reach across a 12" so you can use the edge of the pan as your guide. Even though it's cheap to get styrofoam, I loved the idea of using cake drums instead.

KookieKris - let me know if it works!

You're welcome ...I thought the same thing about the knife in the photos.

I just use the toothpick and dental floss method. Don't know how it would work with a really heavy cake though.

I've never heard of the Agbay but that truly is awesome. Hefty price but it is truly a professional piece of art. I bet that lasts for years.

I've had the small wire one from wilton for years and its been fine, but I had great troubles when I used it on a larger cake so I went to get the bigger wilton one and I haven't used the small one since, even for small cakes. Its really fine for me. The only thing that happens is I have to be very careful and kind of hold the end of the cake as the blade is approaching because it might rip that end off. But if I hold it in place with my hand I don't have any problems. I had that problem even with the small one. I've heard about the agbay on here before. I just can't imagine spending that much to level a cake. Its way way down on my list of goodies to buy. There are so many!!!