I'm having a heck of a time with square cakes. The pans I have are great, but the cake edges are never sharply square. So then I try to trim them, but, well, it doesn't go as planned.
I'm chilling the cake overnight, but I wonder if I should freeze it before I start trying to trim it? I end up with a bit of crumbling and even chilled the knife seems to butcher it. I'm using a serrated knife, btw.
Are there any tricks or tips any of you might be willing to impart, that have made trimming/cutting edges off of cakes easier for you? At the rate I'm going, I am going to have a pretty poor box cake for next weekend
Also, I have been told that using buttercream or ganache you can build up to nice square edges but I have tried crumbcoating and then coming back to fill in and build up, and the effect is that I end up making a mess of it.
So I feel like getting a nice square to start with, then doing a nice even ganache is what will help me be able to square my fondant too. I know how to get sharp edges with fondant. Just not what is underneath
This is not an instant fix but could be something helpful in the future. I saw this information posted on another thread and have not ordered it myself but it is on my wishlist
http://www.sugaredproductions.com/product/Buttercream-DVD/
This is a DVD you can purchase that teaches you how to work with buttercream and achieve a sharp edge.
What kind of pan are you using? When I first started I was using wilton pans, but someone on here recommended magic line pans and I love them for it!
The type of pans you are using is almost irrelevant to the sharp edges question. I have used several types of pans, non stick coatings with slanted edges, up to professional pans. You need to learn to work with the buttercream to hide the cake anyways. The cake isn't what is making the buttercream smooth with sharp corners! Someone else posted a link to the BC DVD by Sugarshack...GET THIS IF YOU WANT PERFECT BUTTERCREAM! I promise worth EVERY PENNY. They are very high quality tutorials, she walks you through the entire process and doesn't speed up or skip over anything! There are no instant fixes, it takes time to master and having the right tools and teachers makes a huge difference!!
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