The Easy Trick You Need For Evenly Cut Cake Layers

Although I don't do it frequently, I love to bake cakes. I see beautiful, creative cake recipes on food blogs and in magazines, and I'm always inspired to recreate them. The cakes usually taste pretty good, but my decorating skills go awry right out of the gate when I attempt to separate my cakes into even layers. They are always crooked and wonky, but I really don't bake enough cakes to justify purchasing a fancy cake leveler. And that's where this clever little toothpick method comes in.

You'll need a ruler, a box of toothpicks, and a sharp serrated knife to pull this off. Place your ruler vertically against the side of your baked cake and push a toothpick halfway in, parallel to your work surface, to mark the middle of the cake. Move the ruler around the cake and place toothpicks at the same level. You don't need to go overboard with the number of toothpicks, just use enough to give yourself a guide for where to cut.

Now you're going to use the serrated knife to split your cake in half. The knife should be parallel to your cake stand, with the blade sitting just above the toothpicks. The toothpicks serve as your guide. As you slice the cake, just make sure your knife stays on top of the toothpicks. Gradually slice deeper into the cake, until you've cut through and are able to lift the top layer off. Your two halves should be straight, even, and ready to fill however you desire.

Whether you're working with circular, square, or odd-shaped cake pans, this method should work, as long as you follow the toothpicks (and don't forget to remove them when you're done). If you're splitting your cake into more than two layers, just measure accordingly. Another important tip is that you don't want to split your cakes until they are completely cooled, as warm cake tends to fall apart easily, no matter how many toothpicks you may use. But toothpicks aren't the only dental tool you can use to slice cake.

You may also have heard of bakers using dental floss to cut their cakes. This isn't a joke. In fact, dental floss makes a pretty handy tool for a number of culinary tasks. I've found that when I want to cut soft chevre logs into even slices for goat cheese stuffed dinner rolls, a string of dental floss works better than any knife in my arsenal. Indeed, the way you cut the cheese matters (insert adolescent laughter here).

To slice cakes with floss, set up your toothpicks as described above, then cut a long string of unflavored dental floss — long enough to wrap around the circumference of the cake and then some. Wrap the floss around the cake so it's sitting on top of each toothpick, cross the ends, and gently pull to slice through the cake, leaving nice, even layers.