How to Cut a Cake into More Slices for a Crowd

We’re going to get cakey this week.  Today, I have a tip for cutting more slices out of a layer cake.

Tomorrow, we’ve got Ingredient Spotlight: Cake Mix (I can’t wait for this one!)

And Thursday, I’ve got a recipe for cake mix cookies that’s lightened up a bit to make them less of a splurge, but still a delicious treat.

How to cut a cake for a crowd

Have you ever had a large group of people over and only had one layer cake to serve?

If you’ve got enough warning, you could make cupcakes instead.  Or bake two cakes.

But I prefer this tip instead.

My dad was raised in a family with 10 kids, so they  always needed a way to make food stretch.  In order to get plenty of slices, they used this method of cake cutting.

And if anyone in that family is reading this post, you’re wondering why I didn’t make banana cake and if that is coffee icing on the cake in the photos.  My grandma’s homemade banana cake is a pain in the patootie to make, so I tend to make this sheet cake with coffee icing instead.

The cake and frosting in these photos is from The Cake Mix Doctor (Mom’s Yellow Cake with Fluffy Chocolate Frosting – it’s one of my favorites). 

An 8″ layer cake will yield about 8-12 slices when you cut the traditional way (starting in the middle and cutting wedges).

Cutting a cake with the method I’m going to show you will yield 14-18 slices.  I cut 16 out of this one.  It was a warm day in August (yes, I’ve been saving this tip for a long time now), but I think if the cake was cooler it would be easier to make thinner slices.

Not that you want to serve paper-thin pieces, but desperate times, call for desperate measures.

Cut the cake in half, then slice each half into pieces.  Be ready for a couple of people to fight over the extra-frosting end pieces.

All month long we are talking about quick and easy cooking tips.

Find all the 31 Days of tips for cheaters here.

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