Cutting a Wedding Cake

Cutting a multi-tiered wedding cake may look like rocket science and surely some caterers want to keep you in that delusion so that you are obligated to pay an extra service charge to cut your wedding cake. This may help you in doing it yourself.

Most American wedding cakes are multi-tiered rounds with numerous plastic structural pieces. Don't let this intimidate you though!

This cake is a four tiered cake with 16 inch round bottom tier. Before the bride and groom cut the cake symbolically, you need to have prepared the following:

You will remove the cake topper and place it out of the way. Remove the top tier which some people save for their first anniversary and place it aside on your serving cart. This top tier is on a small plastic "plate" and is most likely connected underneath to plastic pillars which supported it. Remove the pillars and set aside as well.

Keep removing tiers of cake and pillars and setting aside on your serving cart until you get to the large bottom tier.

Nearly all large cake bottom tiers have four to eight wooden or plastic dowels inserted to support the weight of the tiers above it and depending on the size of the overall cake, the next to the bottom tier can have the dowels inserted in the cake to support weight as well. Remove these dowels with your fingers (wearing food service gloves!) and set aside.

To cut the cake, view it from the above and make a circle within the tier as shown in the diagram about 4 inches from the outer edge of the cake.

Cut clear through this circle with your knife and then slice wedges of cake from the outer perimeter of the cake as shown in the next picture.

I prefer a two handed approach wherein I cut the cake with a knife in my right hand and using a cake server in my left, place it on the cake plate. This is best done with two people...one who cuts the cake and another who has a prepared plate right there to receive the cake slice. Two people will cut a cake faster than one.

If the bottom tier is huge (18 -24 inches wide), cut a second concentric circle within the first also spaced about four inches in. You want cake slice wedges that are anywhere from 3-4 inches in depth, 4 inches tall and 1/2 -1 inch wide , depending on serving size.

Smaller tiers are cut similarly with ever smaller tiers cut like a regular layer cake.

When you finished, you need to wash all plastic parts to the cake which include plates, pins, and pillars. Place all these in a clean baggie because the cake baker will want them back.

Different shapes of Wedding Cakes

To cut oval tiers, move in two inches from the outer edge and cut across. Then slice 1-in. pieces of cake. Now move in another 2-in. and slice again until the entire tier is cut.

To cut heart-shaped tiers, divide the tiers vertically into halves, quarters, sixths or eighths. Within rows, slice one inch pieces of cake.

To cut hexagon tiers, follow similar pattern as with round tiers.

To cut petal-shaped tiers, follow similar pattern as the round tiers diagram shows.

To cut square tiers, move in 2-in. from the outer edge and cut across. Then slice 1-in. pieces of cake. Now move in another 2-in. and slice again until the entire tier is cut.