Hi All!

Please help me. How do you cut a board to fit your cake? For example, I have a 8" round cake and a 8" cake circle. After the cake is baked, it is about 1/4" smaller than the cake circle. The cake pan is the exact same size as the board, so I am unable to trace the outline of the pan to cut it.

I have watched a lot of youtube videos and see that the cake boards are "flushed" with the cake. The cake boards are EXACTLY the same sizes. I have read countless posts about how the cake boards need to be "cut to fit". But how is this achieved??

Any help is appreciated...

=)

I cut them with a pair of kitchen scsissors flush to the crumbcoat. Then I do my second coat so the board is hidden, specially for the upper tiers of a cake.
Edna

I honestly don't worry about that tiny difference. Your cake shrinks a little bit from the pan size. (As a side note: if it is overbaked it will shrink more)

Hi Tonedna!

Thank you for the tip. Let me just make sure I have it correct. After you crumbcoat your cake do you pick the entire cake up in one hand and cut the board with the scissors in the other? If that is the case, have you ever accidentally dropped your cake?

Thank you again...

Are you stacking tiers? If so, this is what I do:

Once the cake is decorated, simply slide it off of the edge of the counter about an inch, align scissors with edge of cake and angle scissors away from the cake (forming a "V" between the cake on one side and blade on the other), and snip. The angle should snip off just enough under neath the edge of the cake so that the board isn't visible.

BE CAREFUL though that your cake doesn't fall!!!

It's good that the cake is slightly smaller than the board. You just keep applying layers of crumbcoat, smoothing in between with a smoother at right angles to the board until the cake is the same size.
In other words, build the cake out to the same size as the cake board. You end up with perfectly smooth and straight sides, especially if you coat with ganache. It also keeps your final board clean, just pick up the cake and place on the larger board.

I put one of the cakes down on the cake board and then trace around it. I put the cake somewhere safe and then I cut the outline out with sissors. I'm just a hobby baker (so we take a few bites and throw the cake in the trash mostly because we make too many cakes). Anyway,I don't know if that would work with food safety rules and stuff.

Thank you !!