How to Cut and Fill a Layer Cake Like a Pro

Looking for video tutorials? Check out my Cake Basics series on YouTube! You’ll learn how to trim and slice, how to fill a layer cake, how to crumb coat and how to decorate!

A layer cake filled with raspberry buttercream and lemon curd and covered in vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

As a result of your comments about what cake decorating techniques you want to learn I created a series of YouTube videos on how to make a layer cake, starting with how to trim and how to fill a layer cake.

I figure we should start at the beginning. There is no sense in learning how to pipe the perfect rose if your cake is listing and the icing is falling off or covered in cake crumbs. It is just as important to know how to slice and fill your cake, as it is to write “Happy Birthday” in fancy letters, so I am going to show you how to create a professional looking cake from start to finish.

Cake Basics Video Tutorials

How to Trim & Slice a Layer Cake

In this video I show you how to trim a cake and cut it into layers, and in my other videos you’ll see how I fill it and create the perfect foundation for the cake you see above. In the next few posts I will teach you to crumb coat, cover the cake with smooth buttercream and decorate it for a special occasion.

How to Fill a Layer Cake

After you’ve baked your layers and trimmed and sliced them, it’s time to fill your layer cake! Here I fill them with buttercream and lemon curd. You can find all the recipes I used in my cake tutorials in my cookbook, Zoë Bakes Cakes, which can be found wherever books are sold.

Cake Decorating Tools

  • Revolving Cake Decorating Stand – this is an essential piece of equipment for making a smooth cake more easily. There are many types, but I like one with some weight on the base so it won’t move around as you are using it.
  • 10-Inch Super Slicer – This serrated knife makes slicing your cakes much easier and because it has a rounded edge, instead of pointed teeth, it kicks up far less crumbs. I also use this knife for finely chopping chocolate.

Next check out How to Crumb Coat a Cake. Doing a proper crumb coat gives you the insurance that cake crumbs won’t end up messing up your final layer of icing. Then onto writing like a pro.

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23 thoughts to “How to Cut and Fill a Layer Cake Like a Pro”

  1. Thanks for than information, is always very useful. I must buy a rotating stands. Thanks again as always your information is fantastic!!!!

  2. I put toothpicks around the cake (about 6-7 of them) then weave unwaxed dental floss around them, cross the ends, then pull. Works every time for a clean cut.

  3. Hey! I was wondering what kind of a cake is used in this video, and also, did you just bake it in a 6 by 2 round pan? Or deeper?

  4. I have a wedding coming up and my fiance and I have decided to make our own cake. I stumbled across this tutorial on youtube, I found your website, and I’ve been watching your videos and reading your posts over and over again almost every day! A great wedding gift would be a new ZoeBakes video every week 😉 You’re wonderful!

    Also, I was wondering what kind of nut filling you used in this video?

  5. Thanks for all the ideas but I need to know why you need not crumb coat for the chocolate cake where you put the frosting

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