Don’t Skip This Simple Step Before Slicing Your Next Cake

Cutting cake is often a source of stress for me. I have worked so hard to perfect this treat, reluctantly distracted myself while it did its time in the oven, and now, I am ready to indulge. I don’t want to let it cool, I don’t want to wait to ice it, I don’t want to find the perfect spatula to lovingly dislodge it from the pan. I want to eat it. 

I am, at my core, a baby at my first birthday party who would happily start digging in with my hands.

But I know I must fight these instincts—that my work is not done. Slicing a cake seems like it should be easy, but it’s an art unto itself. Luckily, one of our favorite tricks is also one of the easiest.

The Easiest Way to Cut Perfect Cake Slices

Our top tip for cutting into a cake? Warm up your knife. A warm knife drags through cake and frosting without allowing anything to stick to it, keeping the knife clean and all the components neatly in place for sharp, neat slices. You can heat your knife by carefully dipping it in hot water and wiping it down afterward or by holding it over a torch or stovetop burner. Be sure you don’t get it so hot that icing or other ingredients truly start to melt.

More Cake Cutting Tips

• Cool (or Chill) the Cake: Chilling may not always be possible depending on your time constraints, but letting your cake cool is an essential step, especially if you’re icing it. Going further is often the way to go—a chilled cake (particularly paired with a warmed knife) is almost always going to cut better than something that’s only cooled for a few minutes out of the oven. This is especially true for round cakes that may be sitting a bit higher and more precariously than a sheet cake. The colder and more settled the cake is, the more cleanly it will slice.
• Use the Right Tool: Different types of cake may slice better with different kinds of knives. A sponge cake, for example, might benefit from the gentle slice of a serrated knife instead of a typical slicing knife. Some cakes, like angel food cake, are best cut using an unexpected, comb-like tool called a cake breaker, which is specifically designed to avoid too many crumbs and protect the airiness of the texture. Some even recommend using dental floss to efficiently slice through sheet cakes—test out the tools you have and decide what is best!
• Mark the Slices Before Cutting: This is particularly easy with round cakes, as you can mark them into halves as many times as you need to, noting where you plan to cut is a helpful tip to keep you on track. Again, some folks recommend using floss to evenly mark the lines of the slices even if you don’t use it to truly cut.