Ok... I got the coveted AGBAY cake levler last week and I love it!! But now realize part of my leveling problem was... When putting filling in a torted cake.. I pipe an icing dam around the edges.. then fill my cake.. place the next layer on and so on.. when the top layer goes on.. it sinks in the middle..

now I realized it was because the filling was not as high as the dam.. I dont want that much filling. and I do press down on each layer after filling (its not a huge dam either)

but still end up with the center sway.. I thought of piping bc pillars (frosting globs) in the center of the layer after I spread the filling on to hold up the center.. what do you all do?? I never have probs when using buttercream as a filling.. Just Jam like fillings.. Thanks any help or suggestions would be great )

Be sure the dam is slightly inside the edge of the cake so that when you do press down, you don't push the dam outside the edge of the cake, which causes a bulging effect. But yeah, I'd press down on mine frequently to make sure I had good contact.

If you don't want that much filling you could use a smaller round tip to make your dam instead of the coupler. Then you could put the filling level with the dam.

When I use jam or any fruit filling, I always make a big X out of buttercream on the cake, plus the dam and then I put my filling in the 4 sections. Actually, I don't know why I do that, I just always have. It might keep your cake from sinking in the middle, though.

OH.. I like the X out of Buttercream.... Thanks I will do that... and thank you all for the great
advice..

A little off the topic but I need help!!!
I have started having a problem with my cakes. I use the baking strips and my cakes seem to by baking from the outside and rolling toward the center as they bake so my cakes come out looking lumpy and bumby on the top center of the cake. What am I doing wrong?

Have you just started using the baking strips and this is happening or you have been using them all along and this just started happening It sounds like to me. it might be your oven.. Try getting a Thermometer and watch the temp in the oven. I learned on here that you can use wet paper towel strips instead of baking strips. I have tried it and love them.. cakes come out level and beautiful.. and you can reuse them just get them wet again.

I have been using the baking strips for a couple of years and just started having this problem. I will check the oven temp as I haven't thought of that sense I haven't had the problems before. Thank you. Do you like the fabric strips better than the teflon?

What temp are you baking at? I lower it to 325 and it fixed that issue for me. HTH!

350. I'll try 325 and see if that works. Thank you.

You're welcome! It takes a little longer to bake the cakes but the result is great.

Hi bcake1960! If you find the top of your cake is not level after stacking many layers due to the filling being uneven then you're in luck because you have an Agbay and you can set it as high as 6 inches. So set the Agbay Leveler just high enough to trim the top off the entire cake. You can take off as little as 1/8th". Then you'll be all set to start icing a perfectly level and flat cake. Hope this helps!