Cake Decorating - Three Ways to Get a Level Cake

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Sandy Sheppard

Confectioner's Art

www.confectionersart.com

703-550-6978

sandyscakes2000@yahoo.com

Sandy Sheppard, an award winning Master Cake Designer, and owner of Confectioner's Art, has over 25 years experience and has been published in Who's Who.”

Cake Decorating - Three Ways to Get a Level Cake

Master cake decorator Sandy Sheppard demonstrates three tips for getting a level cake.

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Sandy Sheppard: Hi I am Sandy Sheppard master cake decorator, and I am here today to show you three different tips. They will probably cut this in three different videos. But the first tip on how to fill up your cake pan, so that you end up with a nice level cake. Let me show you a real nice level cake.

This cake is nice and level, and thats the way we want our cakes to look, so that when we put them together they have a very professional look to them. First tip is to make sure to fill up your pans properly. I have some cake batter here, a nice chocolate cake that I have mixed up. You want to fill up your pans, approximately half full. Now, this will depend upon your recipe. Some recipes require you to fill them up full, because they dont rise as well that I know that this cake recipe fills up two eight inch pans, and so if I fill up both pans equally, then it will be very nice. See how handy that spatula is, it cleans every little bit out of that pan. Just spread that around real nice and easy in my pan, and there we go. As you can see both pans are approximately half full and they are nice and leveled.

Okay. My next little step for helping your pans to -- your cakes to bake nice and flat like this one has. Now thats the bottom of the pan, but thats the top of the cake and it is very nice and flat. I have three tips for that, one is making sure your cake pan is filled properly. The second one is to wrap it with a toweling strip. This is just from an old bath towel that I have cut in strips that fit the depth of the pan. I have taken this over to my sink and gotten it nice and wet and squeezed out the excess water, so that its wet.

Now I take this towel strip, put it around my pan, just wrap it nice and gently and where did my little t-pin go. Then I bough this t-shape pin, I dont know how well you can see that there, but this little t-pin and its called that, because it looked like a letter T, you could buy at any fabric department store, any department store that has fabrics and such. Then I take this and I am just going to pin right through the layers of the toweling to hold it together, and now its ready to be baked.

Now, if the cake comes out of the oven and its not nice and leveled, there is one more trick that I have to show you. Take it out of your oven, and as soon as it comes out of the oven, now this one is pretty leveled, but as soon as it comes out of the oven take a nice dry towel, a terrycloth towel so its fairly thick, I have it folded in half, I lay it across the hot cake and gently press it, and flatten the top of the cake, and thats three tips for helping you to come out with a nice level finished cake.

Cake Decorating by lexymarie at 03/21/11 03:29PM Flag

Your cake decorating tips are great!! Do you share your cake & icing recipes? lexmarie414@yahoo.com

Icing by mozarto26 at 03/10/11 04:50AM Flag

Could you send me your icing recipe my e-mail is frobles@ufm.edu, thanks a lot!

Icing by mozarto26 at 03/10/11 04:50AM Flag

Could you send me your icing recipe? Thanks a lot!

Sides or bottom didnt brown by JeRenia at 02/19/11 03:04PM Flag

I used your method for getting the cake to rise evenly. I wrapped strip from and old towel around the pan before putting in oven. It worked! I never had a level cake in my life but it was perfectly even. I used a Wilton 6” square for testing this new trick. Wilton suggested cooking time was 30 minutes – 350degrees BUT it wasn’t done. The sides pulled away from the pan and the bottom nor the sides were really done after the suggested 30 minutes of cooking, thought he cake was done in

Cake Decorating by Delfina at 08/30/10 09:17PM Flag

Can I get the recipes for the buttercream and also royal icing please? thank you so much, your voice is so placent so I learn and relax at the same time. THANK YOU!!

hey by sarah_67 at 05/12/10 10:46PM Flag

ive seen your videos for a long time and they are really instructional and helpful.Can you please post your buttercream recipe?

Cake Decorating by pinkballoon409 at 04/23/10 08:25PM Flag

OMG! I love the way you make the cake! I can spend the whole day sitting and watching your video. They are really helpful! Thumb up! :)

Tiered Cakes by elaine_duplessis at 02/22/10 08:51AM Flag

Hi there! Thanks a million for the level-cake tips. I'm surely going to use them! Just a question though: when making multi-tiered cakes, what do I do to keep them from sinking? I've been reading a lot about inserting "pins" into the cake, but how exactly do I do that? I don't want a cake randomly filled with sticks, if you you know what I mean!

Icing, and cake by rlflemdudley at 08/05/09 09:12PM Flag

I really enjoyed your footage. You really make it look so effordless. I would like the rescipe for your icing and that chocolate cake that you made> I look forward to more of your videos. Please send recipes to cakegirl212@gmail.com, thanks

New method by srilankacooking at 06/23/09 10:20AM Flag

Thanks you very much for showing a new methods for baking cakes. it will really useful.

Icing by smatt at 05/23/09 03:12PM Flag

Hi. Thank you for your instructive videos. Can you send me the icing recipe? smatt@mh.is Sigurborg

by marlene at 03/13/09 03:44AM Flag

MARLENE by marlene at 03/13/09 03:43AM Flag

Thank you for all the tips they were all very helpful,would you please send me your recipe for the icing you use.It looks so easy to work with.again thank you,here is my e-mail naibarger2@comcast.net

Wet towel trick by rae at 01/28/09 05:14PM Flag

Why does putting the wet towel around the cake pan work?

by khawk at 10/18/08 04:26AM Flag

what is the recipe you used for the cake mix? could you tell me at k_hawk_96@hotmail.com thank you

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