How to Use a Cake Leveler

A cake leveler is a very useful, accurate and time saving tool to have if you bake a lot of cakes. Once you learn to use it, you will wonder how you did without it...

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Cake
• Leveler

1. A cake leveler can be used for 2 different things. To level and to torte.
   Most cakes will have the hump on the bottom after baking. This needs to be removed if you want your cake to stand up straight. If you want to torte a cake (make thin layers) this will make the job easier.

2. There are basically 2 types of levelers. One is small and has a cutting wire and the other is large and has a serrated blade. Either one of these can usually be purchased at a cake decorating supply store, a craft shop or online. The small leveler should be less than $5.00 and the large leveler will be between $20-$25.00.
   The small leveler will cut a cake up to about a 10 inch diameter. This leveler is very lightweight and will not stand up alone. You have to place one hand on the top to hold it in an upright position. There is a very fine gauge wire that hooks on each side. There are notches about 1/8 inch apart on each side where you can adjust the height. The small leveler is not as stable to use as the large one.

3. The large leveler's blade is about 18 inches wide which will allow you to level or torte a cake up to around 17 inches in diameter. This leveler has feet on the bottom which allows it to stand up alone even though you will still need to hold it with one hand while you are slicing through the cake. To adjust the height on most of these, you will turn the feet which will unlock the blade and allow you to reposition the height. Then you turn the feet in the opposite direction and that will lock the blade in the notches on the sides of the handle.
   
   To level a cake, place the cake on a piece of wax paper with the hump facing up. Set the leveler to the desired height. Place one hand on the cake and the other hand on the leveler. Hold the leveler still and slide the cake through the wire or blade gently with a slight left to right movement as you are cutting through the cake. Moving the cake slightly will give you a smooth cut. Have light hand pressure on the cake.
   
   If you want to torte a cake, you will need something underneath the cake to accommodate for the height as you cut the layers. I use 1/4 inch Plexiglas squares with the large leveler being that it tortes 1/4 inch. You will have to use a little math to get your layers even.

Tips & Warnings

• This tool is very handy for someone that has a problem cutting straight.

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on 6/11/2009 Informative article. Very helpful!