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Made a delicious sponge cake, yesterday, but had trouble cutting it into layers. Tried one of those suspended wires that you pull through the cake...it was useless. Finally had success using a long flat knife, but am convinced there must be a better knife to do the job. Any suggestions? What's your favorite knife for cutting a cake into layers?

Thanks,

Patricia Ann

I always use a serrated bread knife.  My view is that as long as the outside edges are clean and even, it doesn't matter too much if there are some uneveness inside the cake.  I have heard of people using dental floss (unflavored of course) but I cannot imagine that would work any better than your cake wire.

Like Jane, I find a sharp serrated bread knife works best. The sawing motion makes it easy to control and you don't squash the cake. 

Thanks Avocet and Jane for the serated knife suggestion. Do you find you need a knife wider than the cake?

Toothpicks placed around the cake at intervals which accord with around 2 inches shorter than your knife will give a good guide rail! Cut into cake using the toothpicks as a cutting platform, working in quadrants sawing into middle but not completely through until you've made it almost all the way around the outside ;-)

Thanks debkellie for your suggestion. It surely seems like a better method than me trying to eyeball it:)

I use the toothpick method also. My knife is a 10" and I don't think I've ever cut a cake larger than 9", but I think with toothpicks and rotating the cake as debkellie describes, it would work well.

Hi Avocet,

Great to hear that the method works so well for you too. And thanks for sharing the size of your knife.

I don't think dental floss will work well on a sponge cake, but it is absolutely the easiest and least messy way to cut up a cheescake! Just use a strand of floss to cut through the top of the cake down to the bottom crust, then pull the strand out just as you would if it were between teeth!  Keep repeating until you have the number of slices you want.  (For a large, rich cake like a chocolate cheesecake, it's easy to get 16 slices using this technique.)  I haven't tried it, but floss also might work well to divide a mousse cake or a flourless cake.