layer cake tips the biggest birthday cake

My father-in-law, being the young man that he is, turned 60 this past weekend, and if you think I was going to let my in-laws buy him a cake from a bakery, you have no idea how typing those words caused a shudder to rise up in my chest. A cake from a bakery! Promise me a homemade cake if I make it to 60. I’m hoping to have amassed enough cake-baking karma by then to avoid having to ask.

But this isn’t entirely about my father-in-birthday law’s cake. (However, you’ll see the recipe later in case you want to make your own 12-inch square insanely chocolaty cake.)I’ve been meaning to share many of my favorite layer cake tips with you for a long time. I get a lot of emails about them, with people asking about the logistics of putting them together, and I realize I’ve absorbed a lot of advice over the last fifteen years or so, and I’m overdue to summarize it all in one place.

10 Tips for Better Layer Cakes

1. My obsession with the freezer: If you’ve read a few of my Celebration Cakes posts, you’ve most likely heard me mention the freezer once, twice, or even 32 times. When it comes to cakes, I am clearly obsessed with the freezer, and for good reason: the freezer is your friend. When cakes are frozen, they are much easier to work with, from lifting layers to stacking them, leveling the layers, and even setting some frostings. How does one go about freezing a cake layer? I employ the flash-freezing technique. I put a single layer in the freezer, either on a parchment- or waxed paper-lined tray or right on the cooling rack, making sure it’s not touching anything else, and freeze it until it’s solid — about 30 minutes to an hour. You can use it immediately after freezing it, or wrap it tightly in plastic until you need it again.

2. Baking even layers: If you’re stacking one cake layer on top of another, the surfaces should be flat.
A flat-bottomed cake layer on top of a rounded cake dome will inevitably crack, and I will inevitably scream.
It is completely avoidable.
We’ll get to leveling your cake later, but the best way to have less to level (and less scraps to “nom” on, because you will, and then you won’t have room for a real slice) is to bake them more evenly from the start. There are two approaches to this.
The first method is to use Evenbake Cake Strips, which are meshy metallic fabric strips that you dampen and pin around the outside of a cake pan before baking it.
I’ll spare you the science (as if I understand it), but they truly are magical, and your cake layers come out evenly.
The gadget-free method, and an old baker’s secret, is the second way to get your cakes to bake more level, but the results are a little less flat, but still impressive.
Simply bake the cake for a longer period of time at a lower temperature (usually 300 instead of 350).

3. Leveling: You’ve done everything possible to achieve nice, even layers, but guess what? There will be uneveness because you’re baking, not building a cake out of styrofoam blocks (in case you’ve ever wondered why your cakes never look like those in wedding magazines, I’ve now gleefully blown their cover). This is when you pull out your longest serrated knife and begin trimming. Oh, I know some people use a level, but that’s one step beyond my level of insanity; instead, I eyeball it. I also level the sides. Even when you stack two cake layers from the same recipe baked in the same pan, their edges will not meet perfectly, and you’ll have to spackle them smooth with frosting. You could also trim the sides with the same knife.

4. Cake boards: There is no easier way to transfer a cake from a box to a platter to the fridge to wherever you need to take it than with a cake board. Sure, you can cut your own out of cardboard, and I have done so many times when I forgot to buy one or grabbed the wrong size, but if you have a baking supply store nearby, they probably sell them for a quarter. Depending on your needs, you can buy cheap cardboard ones or thicker, decorated ones; I buy extras because they’re handy to have around. What should you look for? A board two inches larger than your cake. This creates a one-inch border around the cake, which protects the beautifully decorated cake sides from damage when slid into a box. If you also buy cake boxes. You’re looking for a size that corresponds to the board, not the cake.

5. Keeping your cakes moist: Assume, for the sake of argument, that you’re making a wedding cake and are concerned that the cake will dry out between the time you start and finish it. Brushing it with a simple syrup, one part water to one part sugar, or even three parts water to one part sugar (if you’re worried about the cake becoming too sweet) before beginning to decorate it is the best way to avoid this. Well, I’ve rarely seen a layer cake that didn’t benefit from a little extra moisture. But there’s no need to be boring: flavor the syrup with citrus zest or juice (or boil the syrup with a citrus peel inside), a shot of liqueur or your favorite extract, or any other flavoring you can think of. It’s especially enjoyable when used to complement the flavor of the cake. Do you want to learn another secret? I didn’t even use a syrup on the chocolate layer when I made the wedding cake; just a little water with vanilla in it.

6. Waxed paper strips: Your cake layers are baked, and you’re ready to begin decorating. You gently place your frozen cake layer in the center of your cake board (see how simple it was when it was cold?) and you’re about to pull out the filling and frosting, but hold on! Before you take anything else out that will ruin your cake board (which you’ll probably be serving the cake on, so you want it to look nice), slip small pieces of waxed paper underneath the edge of the cake all around its circumference until the board is completely covered. No matter how much of a mess you make while decorating, the board will still look shiny and new when you’re finished, and remove it.

7. Crumb coating/masking: If you remember nothing else from this post, promise to remember this. The presence or absence of a crumb coat almost always makes the difference in the appearance of cakes iced by professionals and those iced by home cooks. The crumb coat is a thin layer of frosting that serves as the “base coat.” It sort of glues the crumbs into the cake (which is especially important for dark cakes with light frostings) and prepares the cake for the thicker, smoother layer that will come later. There is no need to make this coat perfect, but you must cover every crumb of the exposed cake or they will sneak through, trust me. After you’ve finished masking the cake with the crumb coat, chill it for 30 minutes to an hour before applying the final coat. It will go much more smoothly than you are accustomed to.

8. Things that can be done ahead of time: Making the cake layers (Bake layers up to a week ahead of time, triple-wrapped in plastic and frozen.) Making some fillings (Curds keep well in the fridge, often for a week or more.) I’m making some frostings. (I’ve had the most success with Swiss Buttercream, which can be left out at room temperature for an entire day without going bad or forming a crust.) That is, assuming you don’t live in a sauna.) Making the entire cake is common. (Most finished cakes will keep moist and delicious in the refrigerator for at least a day.)

Conversion of Pan Sizes Let’s say you want to turn a 12-inch cake into a sheet cake, a 9-inch circle into an 8-inch square, a bundt into cupcakes… This cake pan size conversion chart will show you what is possible and what must be scaled.

10. Resources: Despite all of this, as well as a wedding cake, I am no cake expert. At best, I’m a cake dabbler, and the amount of advice I’m comfortable giving is limited to what’s on this page. If you have any further questions, the Wilton boards (those people know their stuff!) and the website (they have excellent guides) are the best places to get good answers. I believe Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Cake Bible is the best of the books, but I haven’t looked at many others. I’ve yet to meet anyone who regretted spending $23.