Im having a really hard time making my tears perfectly straight, especially the big ones. Is there a tool or method that will help with this? A lot of times i can't tell the layers aren't straight until i cover the tier with fondant and then its usually too late to fix. Any advice or tips welcome

Do you mean vertically or horizontally straight?

Use an Agbay to make sure you're cutting the cakes straight, then after filling and stacking layers get down and "eye-ball" it and see if there's an uneven side you may be able to adjust at that time before you ice/fondant the cake. Hope that helps, that's what I do.

I carve my cakes both horizonally and vertically. I use a small level to make sure they are even. My cakes come out perfect every time. **** JUST MAKE SURE THE SURFACE YOU'RE CUTTING ON IS ALSO LEVEL**. I once stacked a cake and it didn't look right. I took my level to the table and sure enough, it wasn't level, or the whole cake was off.

Thanks ya'll! I need to get a leveler for sure. I usually carve the tops off before i stack so they are usually level on top but its the sides that don't usually line up right. Everytime i eyeball it and i think they are lined up when i put the fondant on then i can see they aren't : ( How do you carve the sides for round tiers??

If you have a really large cake, it help to ur dowels in every tier except for the very top one. This helps to keep the cake from sinking on one side. And even if the cake squishes a little when you put the next tier on the dowels will help support the next tier. Also a cake leveler works amazing!!!

This helped me. I stack my cakes cut side down for each layer. As for the side I was having the same problem, until a fellow baker told me it was my pan. If you look at the sides of your pan , do they slightly taper ? If they do you may want to get different pans to make it easier, I really like fat daddio. I no longer use the wilton . I hope this helps..