hey yall.... do ya'll cut off the edges of ur cakes along with the top when you level it?  ive been noticing before cakes are iced (on some sites)  they are nothing but cake!!  no top or sides.. ???

often yes i do--individual choice--

ok.. ty.. the cake I did last week I did that... but since it was my first time to do it that way... do u have any suggestions.... Im guessing the best way is to do it while frozen??? ty

yes--that's usually how i do it-- i set a sheet tray under my turntable and take a nice serrated knife and slice off the edge in narrow strips that fall onto the sheet pan--i just go all the way around the cake and make it smoothy smooth--

makes it much easier to ice the cake efficiently for me--get the icing smoother without brown spots--then you can use an even amount of icing--saves money saves time--works for me--

it's a prettier look when it's served imo

ANever.

I have a hard time getting my smaller cakes to not have crusty edges.. I turned my heat down and ive put aluminum foil over them but I always have to trim the rough edges off...???

ANope. Most of my cakes don't have "edges" though since I bake full sheets and cut the sizes I need from them.

I never trim. If I feel the edges are too crisp, I wrap the cake in Plastic wrap 10 minutes after it is out of the oven. The cake will "steam" in the plastic and after a few hours or overnight, the edges will be soft. Plus the steam boosts the moisture in the cake itself.

especially for white layer cake--it's much prettier on the plate without the browned edges & bits imo

ANo. It's a waste of my time, and cake.

AI don't cut any part of it unless I'm actually carving it.

I don't ever cut the edges off - no need

A

Do you cut round cakes from the sheet cake? What do you do with the left over cake?

AYes. They are either tossed or turned into cake balls.

All my fondant and ganached cakes are trimmed.  If I need to ice an 8" cake, I have an 8" cake board and 8" cake.  No room for icing on the sides.  So I trim 1/8 to 1/4" off the cake after filling and chilling.  It doesn't take that much time at all to do and the finished cake looks so much better IMHO.  All the left over scraps go in the scrap bowl for staff to eat or in the trash - and it's not that much cake anyway.  Besides, it's also quality control.  

To me, it's one extra detail I put into making the interior of my cake look beautiful and as lux as the price tag I charge.  Everything is perfect, including no brown bits and exact ratios of buttercream/ganache on every piece of cake served.  The outside of a competitor's cake can look pretty good to me, but as soon as it's cut and I see uneven layers and uneven frosting, it drives me nuts.  Or even worse, when I see 1" of filling on 1/2" cake.  Or layers cut unevenly.  Or a mountain slope of icing, especially on the outer rim, because the cake was unevenly baked or domed in the middle, and instead of re-baking the baker just spackled icing on it to make up the lost height... all that makes the OCD.

Not saying ANY of you are guilty of this, just saying what my personal opinion is!  I actually have no idea how many of the people that eat my cake actually notice that extra detail, but in just about every consultation I do the clients always drool over the photos of my cut cakes and comment on how perfect and delicious they look.  I totally use it as an additional selling point - people eat with their eyes.

Again, just my humble opinion.

The sides of my cake are never crisp....however I never thought of how nice a well shaped cake looks when its cut.

A fine point - to make it look good on the inside as well as the outside.    .