How to Cut a Tiered Wedding Cake

 
Here is a guide on how to cut a tiered wedding cake. If you are using experienced caterers they will have cut many wedding cakes. On the other hand if you have family or friends throwing the party for you they may need a little guidance on how to get the right number of slices from the cake.

Be sure to wear an apron and have on hand a long thin knife, spatula or cake server and a warm wet towel to clean the knife between cuts. Have enough plates, forks and napkins (or cake boxes) for every guest.

Whether a cake is stacked or separated by pillars, the first thing that you should do is disassemble the cake. The top tier is usually keep for the bride and groom for their first anniversary. For information on how to save the top tier of wedding cake read an article on storing and saving the cake.

Cutting a wedding cake can be messy so it should be done behind the scenes in the kitchen.

If your cake is on pillars. Simply lift the tiers which are still on the separator plate off the pillars and place on the table. Remove the cake from the separator plate by inserting the knife or spatula between the cake cardboard and separator plate and lift the cake (still on the cardboard) off the separator plate.

Place the cake on the table. Remove the pillars embedded in the cake tiers and you are ready to serve.

If the cake is stacked, use a knife to find the cardboards supporting the tiers. One by one, gently lift off the tiers and place on the table. Make sure that you remove the submerged supports before serving.

Begin cutting slices of cake from the bottom tier. For a 40cm (16inch) round cake, make an impression of a circle about 10cm (4inches) from the rim of the tier using a sharp knife. Cut through this impression. Starting with the outer circle, cut 2cm (3/4 inch) thick wedges from the outer rim this will give about twenty four slices of cake.

While you are cutting, hold the knife in one hand and allow the slice of cake to fall onto the cake server that you are holding in your other hand and then slide the cake on to the plate.

When the outer ring has been completely cut and plated up begin to cut the inner ring into 2cm (¾ inch) slices, you should get about 12 slices. For a more detailed picture diagram on a cutting tiered wedding cake visit Wilton Wedding Cakes.

Wedding tradition dictates that it is bad luck for a guest to leave the reception without having tasted the wedding cake. To keep with the tradition of good fortune and to guarantee that everyone gets a taste of your delicious cake, follow these few simple guidelines for serving the cake.