Good morning all, when your cake isn't level from the get go, lets say it didn't bake even. One side went to the top edge of the pan and the other side did not. How do you fix it? I was taught to fix it with icing, but if you do it this way some one gets a mouthful of iciing, yeck. Is it better to use some form of cake scraps and fill it in with those? Just curious...

TIA,
Kat

Fix it with icing? Sorry, to me that's the "housewifey" way to fix it and not the right way to do a cake. And you're right ... getting a mouthful of icing can be gross to some people.

And in my personal opinion, it's not professional. A good baker can bake/create a nice level cake to start with. Otherwise it looks pretty "slapped together" to me.

My neighbor was amazed when she asked the same question: How do you get your cakes so flat and level? and I replied "You cut off the tops."

Cut the rounded part off until it's level. THe falacy about 'filling it with icing' might work for just a birthday cake (single tier) but when you get to making larger cakes, the icing jsut won't be enough to support the cake, the fondant, the decors, etc.

Another option is when you stack the two layers is to lay the thick side of the top layer on top of the low side of the bottom layer. Lay the cakes on top of each other w/o any filling, so you know who to lay them to get them the msot level. This will also help you see where you need to do add'l trimming. In plumbing and construction, they call this doing a "dry fit" to make sure everything goes together right before doing the final glueing, soldering, nailing.

If your cakes consistenty bake this way, you might check the level of your oven and adjust that. Or turn your pans about 1/3 into the baking (careful ... as the batter is very fragile at that point.) I say 1/3 into the way, not 1/2 into the baking time, as you want to turn it before the sides set. Otherwise it's too late.

A lot of good points Indydeb, thanks. It doesn't happen often but I was curious.