I understand that cakes are easier to carve from frozen, do forum members agree? Wouldn't the cake be too hard/icy to carve?

Also, what is the best knife to use? Serrated or non-serrated? I have seen pictures in Kerry Vincent's book. She uses a long thin blade, non-serrated, with a rounded tip. Has anyone used this type of knife, and knows what it is called?

Thanks in advance.

I just refrigerate my cakes when carving and I use smooth and serrated knives as needed.
May seem like an obvious tip but I learned the hard way Carve first and fill after.

I think using a pound cake or dense cake also makes it easier to carve. I have always used a serrated knife.

I always freeze the cake and use a serrated knife. Crumb coat the cake while it is frozen too, otherwise the crumbs can be a royal pain in the butt!!! .

I freeze the cake (don't have to do it a long time, you can bake in the morning, stick it in the freezer, and decorate that night) and then use a long thin bladed knife. I also crumb coat while still partially frozen in order to get less crumbs in the icing.

I use a dense cake, freeze, and then use an electric carving knife for the main shape and the do my fine detail work with a small serrated knife.

An electric knife! Now I didn't think of that one...cool idea!

My favorite cake is one DH yellow mixed with one lb cake mix....makes a very moist, sturdy, flavorful cake. If someone wants a 3D cake I pretty much tell them that is their one flavor choice LOL.

I fill, crumb coat and freeze mine. After the first carve of the main shape I put it back in the freezer and continue doing that until I am happy with it. Even filled it is easy to carve. I found a small serrated knife to be my weapon of choice. However, the last time I did one I had knives of all sizes everywhere. When the cake is frozen pretty solid you can almost scrape it for fine details. Yes, it is messy but it is nothing a brush can't brush away and a crumb coat can't cover.

Good luck. What shape are you carving?

I never freeze mine and use my angled tapered spatula to do the carving. I also use my basketweave tip to apply the icing so crumbs aren't an issue.

Deanna

Thank you for all your replies and tips, it is most helpful. I just made a Garfield cake similar to one I saw in the gallery. Because I didn't have pudding bowls, I used Texas muffin tins and had to carve it into a rounded semi-circle shape. I was using a serrated knife and sometimes it 'caught' onto a chunk of crumbs and the whole chunk comes out, leaving a bit of a hole in the cake.

I wonder if anyone has tried using the 'spackle' method of crumbcoating with crumbs mixed with a bit of the frosting and the filling.

I've done the spackle technique once before on a tall round cake to try and prevent the "love handles" that sometimes happen when the filling squishes out, a la Toba Garrett. I personally wouldn't do that on a cake sculpture, but most of mine have some fairly fine details to them so it might not work as well for me as it would for some other shapes. Since I'm applying my buttercream to my sculptures with an icing tip, I just fill the voids (if any) with buttercream and don't bother with making a spackle.

Do you have a picture of your Garfield cake? I have a friend who loves Garfield. Please post a pic!

Deanna

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Try using a serrated knife that is for slicing bread. I have a long, thin serrated knife from Rada that is perfect for trimming cakes.