Hi,
I will be making a huge cake for a golden wedding next month. It's going to be 5 stacked round tiers. All of it, a rich dark fruit cake, covered with marzipan and fondant.
This cake normally turns out pretty moist and dense.
My aunt wants the cake cut and served on the spot to her 250 plus guests.

Now,
I can slice cake pretty ok, but under a time constraint ... ?

Any tips for cutting the cakes?
What type of knife to use?
Cutting guides?

Anything, anything that will help me to do this efficiently and quickly.
Thank you in advance,
Karen

Hi Karen,
You will need a helper to be efficiant. they can set out the plates and move them as you place the cake slice.
here is what i suggest. tape a small bag to the edge of the table as a trash collector, tear paper towels into 4ths, have a jug of warm/hot water nearby. and wear disposable food safe gloves. using 2 sharp knifes, one kept in the water, since you are working with stacked fruit cake i would disemble the whole thing and start slicing the bottom tier. when then knife gets gummed up wipe most of it off and put it in the water and pick a new one, use the 1/4 paper towels to wipe it from time to time. the bag is for the paper towels and if you need to change your gloves, but this kind of cake is hardly messy. you will do just fine.

Wow! Thank you so much! I would never have thought of the hot water ....Great tip.
Making the cake is not scaring me as much as having to slice it in super quick time.
One more question ... Serrated/Non Serrated for Fruit Cake?
Thanks,
Karen

I'm bumping this. I hope that is OK. I am really hoping for some advice on the kind of knife to use.
Thanks,
Karen

I hope someone can answer your question regarding the knife, I'm afraid I can't. But you have addressed a topic I have been curious about as well. I've always wondered how they cut the cake (and now that I've taken up cake decorating, I feel I should know for obvious reasons!). I know that at a wedding or other formal reception that the cake is typically taken to the kitchen for cutting and serving. However, the most recent weddings I've attended seem to have a trend of on the spot cutting. I wanted to watch how this was done at the last wedding I was at, but unfortunately missed it because I was waiting in line at the bar, hah! Anyway, there was one person cutting and another assisting--it seemed to go very quickly. Does anyone know how long it would take approximately to cut a cake of this size?

i'm not an expert, but i find that a serrated knife works best on fondant.

Some great information on this thread.
sweetcakes, you are awesome! I learn something new on this sight everyday. I also learned this morning that I need to fill my new eye-glass prescription since I first read the topic as "How to cut a cake more affectionately"


kos

karennayak,

Try Debbie Meyers' cake slicer, its really terrific.

Fruit cake, marzipan and fondant are easy to cut so any sharp knife, but if you have nuts in it i expect a serrated would do better.
Heres a laugh for all. the very first wedding cake i made in 1988 in england was fruit cake, marzipan and covered in royal which is how cakes were done then. When it came time to cut the cake, the knife wouldn;'t go through the royal, they ended up with a hammer and chisel to crack the top off in one huge square and smash into smaller pieces , the same with the sides. they then put a piece on the plates along with the slice. pieces of royal icing and marzipan are really good to suck on or dunk in tea, which is usually being served at cake time.

Thanks!

Your post reminds me of a similar disastrous cake I created a long time ago. It was in 1988 too, and for this same customers' daughter's wedding!

I used royal icing, and when it was time to slice and serve.... it was hard as stone, and big pieces of icing kept flying off everywhere! It was a nightmare.

I'm glad she still trusts me after that!

Karen

best tip i ever saw for cutting and serving large wedding cakes was in an "american cake decorating magazine" article (if you're able to find a back-issue with this article i'd recommend getting it. i gave this issue along with several years' issues of the magazine to my stepfather to sell on ebay, but he hasn't gotten around to it yet):

in addition to whatever tool you're using to slice, wear plastic gloves (non-latex) and serve with your hands. seriously. keep your fingers together so that your hands are operating like little spatulas, rather than like claws. once the slicing is done, you'll have more control with your hands than with a cake server to pick up and place pieces/slices on the the waiting plates, and things will go must faster than trying to be dainty with a fancy cake spade.

for cutting, i'd recommend a large, heavy (thick bladed), serrated bread knife, which is a wonderful all-purpose tool. you can hold the piece you're cutting flat against your palm of your non-dominant hand, slice the piece with the knife in your dominant hand (or slice several at a time), and then easily flip the piece over onto the serving plate. .

Wow, finally someone who recommends non-latex gloves. God bless you! My husband has a life-threatening allergy to latex and has to be very cautious about food handlers. Thank you!

indeed, latex is both dangerous and can leave unpleasant contact-odours and flavours on food. medical-grade non-powedered vinyl can be a good option. plastic gloves, like you'd use for home-hair-dyeing can be purchased cheaply at harware or discount stores.

it's a real problem with food handlers since many are required to wear the gloves for health code reasons, and yet the prevalence of latex-use in the food and medical industries has lead to increased sensitivity and allergy.

Just wanted to let you know, that the cake is done. Pictures are posted in my photos, and I have posted in the forums under "Golden Wedding Cake".
Thanks for all the help, and advice.
Karen