Any cake experts here?

[electron_blue]

I want to make a double-decker cake. Nothing fancy, but I want to know how to make a cake, stack it and not have to deal with the sloping tops that always seem to be there after making a rounded, mounded cake. When it comes time to stack it, it wobbles more than anything, and looks more round on top, than flat. Am I supposed to just slice off the curved part to get that flat top look?

[trof]

1. Turn the layers upside down.

Unless it's really humpy you'll have a nice flat top.

[electron_blue]

2. that works for the bottom layer, since the domed top will be mashed into

plate, but when I put the top layer on (upside down), is just wobbles around, and has big gaps near the edges and slopes downward in a mound anyway. I guess what I'm saying is I seem to make really "humpy" cakes LOL.

[trof]

4. OK, then slice.

Probably with a long serrated knife, in the pan across the top, after it's cooled.
Maybe even fridge it for a while before slicing the hump off for best results.

[AirmensMom]

9. Put the bottom layer upside down and the top layer right side up.

That way, both flat sides are together. I've never had a wobbly cake doing it that way.

[Swede]

3. I've eaten a few.

I wonder how they're made?

[The empressof all]

5. Wait for the cake to cool completely

Then take a serrated knife and slice the hump off. Brush the crumbs off and you are good to go.

[GirlinContempt]

6. "

[begin_within]

7. Call Melinda Lee, she's on the air right now, toll free 1-866-579-1070

If anyone in the world has the answer, she does.

[AwakeAtLast]

8. You have to do a little surgery

After the cake has cooled, take a serrated knife and gently shave the cake to the level you want. If your cakes are baking extremely lopsided, there may be a problem with your oven (not sitting level, heat level not right, etc.,). Hope this helps!

:hi:

[electron_blue]

18. thanks!

[uppityperson]

10. Is it yellow cake? Beware if it is.

cool, slice off the round part. Or use lots of frosting and some toothpicks.

[Jazz2006]

11. I'm not a cake expert at all but

I just wanted to say that I love humpy cakes ~ so if it doesn't turn out for you...

hee hee :)

[applegrove]

12. Make a trifle!!

[Robb]

13. I recommend the patty cake, myself

Just make it as fast as you can, baker's man. :yoiks:

[redwitch]

19. You ARE a dingbat!

tee hee

[liontamer]

14. turn the top cake upside down

and use a lot of frosting in between the two cakes. The pressure should relatively flatten the middle (although that might depend on the type/texture of cake. but the frosting should take care of any minor differences.

[SOteric]

15. Alright, here's the 411 on cake lumpiness...

There are two major reasons that a cake would rise unevenly in the oven,

• The ingredients could be insufficiently blended, or, more likely,
  
• The outter edges of the cake are cooking much more rapidly than the center.

If you're using a mix from a box, the first is unlikely, but it's a good idea to aerate the dry ingredients from the box by running a whisk through them several times before blending your ingredients, and be certain any eggs and additional liquid ingredients are beaten and blended before addition to the batter.

The second reason is a bit harder to control, but it is possible...

Convection ovens help even the temperature a bit, though the center will still have a smaller but distinctly higher round.

Silicon cake pans can help with the evenness of cooking, but they are somewhat unweildy to manage when filled with batter.

There is a commercially sold product that looks like a strip of ironing board cover with velcro that one wraps around one's pans that works pretty well in insulating the exterior edges for evenness of heat.

Baking in a waterbath is about as perfect a method as one can come across for evening out the heat on a baked item. It will however, vary the baking times and if you're not really good at gauging the doneness of a cake by sight, feel and toothpick methods it's plainly not for you.

Other than that, take a large, very sharp knife and something like an inverted baking sheet to stabilise the knife on the other side of the cake and slice the top half off. Usually the crumbs can just be brushed off, but if you've got a bit more crumbs than you'd like slide a bit of jam onto the cake just to 'glue' the crumbs down.

:hi:

[electron_blue]

17. great, thanks for all the tips.

I'll keep an eye out for those cover things, although it sounds more fancy than I want to be, really. I am pretty good at judging a cake's done-ness by sight.

Would a cast iron skillet work just as well? Since it's good at transmitting heat evenly?

Not sure what you mean by "stabilise the knife on the other side", but I think I know how to lop off the top. Just seems like a waste.

And to whoever recommended I make trifle instead, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I just might.

[Ava]

16. ah man! i thought you were talking about Cake the band!

:P