How do you remove the top tier from the tier below with destroying /marring the cake below?  I have stacked a couple of cakes but now realize I was not present for the dismantling…. or for that matter cutting.  You know I have to look like a pro if I am baking the cake.

Too funny!  Usually the top tier is “floating” above the bottom ones.  I can usually get away with an offset spatula and a larger pancake turner.

So if I make certain that the board is resting on the straws (not the cake really) it will not pull up ganache from the tier below? 

From reading, I like the way this person is cutting the cake: 

http://cateritsimple.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-cut-wedding-cake.html

That is correct…the straws support the tiers above, they don’t actually sit on the cake.  The cake cutting method you show looks pretty good.  I don’t have a special cutter, but found dipping/washing the knife in lots of water is easiest.  I’ve always done my “cake cuttings” in the kitchen.  It’s hard not to get a bit messy!

Sherrie - 10 November 2011 10:07 AM

That is correct…the straws support the tiers above, they don’t actually sit on the cake.  The cake cutting method you show looks pretty good.  I don’t have a special cutter, but found dipping/washing the knife in lots of water is easiest.  I’ve always done my “cake cuttings” in the kitchen.  It’s hard not to get a bit messy!

Yes, I just told my sister this…the cake is taken away to the kitchen.

Yes to everything Sherrie said.

I like the cake comb idea for cutting in front of people, a gloved hand gets messy and just isn’t nice to look at.  The knife gets messy, too, so have something ready to deal with that.

I’ve never encountered a need to turn the cake on its side to prevent squishing out of the filling, I think that happens more when you push straight down without any sawing motion, and/or if you don’t have serrations on your knife.  Maybe that’s more of a concern with a warm, outdoor event, which I haven’t done.

Yes to removing the tiers for cutting.  It’s possible to carefully cut the tiers while resting on their straw supports, but if the straws that support underneath aren’t close enough to the edge of the tier that it is supporting, the tier will tip over when there are only a few pieces on one side (I caught it when this happened, but yikes, it was stressful!).