You Really Really don’t Have to have a Knife to Reduce Cake

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When you have a beautiful cake sitting in front of you, no a person wishes to cut the very first slice and ultimately smear the sensitive piping with a knife. But there is a astonishingly successful way you can slash the cake whilst preserving its attractiveness. Just place down the mess-triggering knife and grab some dental floss rather.

A spool of dental floss tucks easily into a kitchen or desk drawer, or a perform bag, and is often at the ready. I a short while ago tested five sorts of dental floss to cut a few types of cake. The result: some of the cleanest slices that would make any skilled bakery happy. I am not kidding. This technique works fantastically nicely, and it is really astonishingly effortless to do. 

The only disadvantage: Making use of floss may not be the most exquisite way to slice cake slices and you may perhaps get icing on your fingers. But the results are worth it. Here’s how to slash your cake with floss, which form of floss operates finest and some pitfalls you should really totally keep away from. For a lot more interesting methods, here is how to make distilled drinking water for free of charge and how to quit junk mail for fantastic.

@cnetdotcom Your #cake may possibly style a bit #minty depending on the floss you decide on. #lifehack#dentalfloss#trythis#didyouknow#cookinghacks#baking#howtotok♬ son unique – SHIMMYA

Why use dental floss to cut a cake?

There might be a selection of factors you arrive at for the dental floss as an alternative of a knife for slicing cake. Possibly you might be in the office or at a birthday get together in the park and the only offered slicing utensil is a 6-inch compostable knife. Perhaps you happen to be weary of buttercream buildup and want to try a thing new. 1 colleague saved the working day at a celebration when a giant cube cake appeared at a bar that didn’t have utensils for guests to use. The good thing is, the container of floss she experienced on hand did the career.

Here is why it performs: A strand of floss is generally thinner than the average kitchen knife blade, and it’s developed to slide quickly through restricted areas (that is, concerning your teeth). If you have ever flossed as well aggressively, sore gums are all the proof you have to have that the floss “edge” can be sharp. 

Increase them collectively and you have a really best instrument that can get you neat, clean slices after chopping. Though slicing as a result of a single cake, I could hardly see in which the floss sliced by the frosting for the reason that the cuts were so neat. 

In my working experience, applying dental floss to slash cake also did a much better work of preserving the sensitive decorations. For occasion, the carrot cake I used for this examination had a piped carrot design and style on best of the cake. Slicing by way of it with the floss retained that design intact. In my expertise, making use of a butcher knife to slice via decorations usually spoils the seem, leaving a smeared design — but it is dependent on the sharpness, width and duration of the knife blade.

And that trouble of amassed frosting on the edge of the knife? Typically absent — with the exception of buildup on your fingers.

How to cut any cake using dental floss

Initial, make certain your cake is on a flat floor so you have area to pull the floss all the way to the cake’s base. You could set it on a cake stand to give you more space as you slice down. Upcoming, spool out a duration of floss bigger than the widest portion of the cake. I still left various inches on just about every finish to wrap the floss around my fingers comfortably. When you wrap the floss all around your fingers, do not make it tremendous restricted: You are making an attempt to lower cake, not your fingers. 

If you might be hoping to make just about every slice the very same dimension, you could want to use the floss to lightly mark tutorial traces before chopping as a result of the cake. 

Prepared? Here’s what to do.

Square or rectangular cake: If the cake is shaped like a square or rectangle, it may perhaps be a lot easier to minimize because these cakes are normally shorter than spherical cakes. Working with your floss, make your cuts across the cake lengthwise, urgent firmly into the cake to slice all the way by way of. Now make your cuts widthwise, slicing to the bottom of the cake. 

Spherical cake: If your cake is formed like a circle, it truly is maybe a layer cake so you may perhaps want to use a little bit extra tension to make it all the way to the base of the cake. Making use of your floss, firmly slice by means of the middle of the cake to create two halves — you could want to transfer the floss in a sawing motion to fully reduce it. 

Then, make a perpendicular slice to the a person you just produced — you should really now have four triangles. Go on producing cuts, shifting all around the cake, until eventually you have the variety of slices you require. Note that the thinner you want your slices, the tougher it will be to lower simply because the slices start slipping apart.

Can you also use dental floss to provide cake slices?

To see if it was probable, I tried to decide up a slice of cake with floss. It was tough and kind of labored, but the floss gradually slice by the spongy texture as I tried to remove the slice. I recommend employing a fork or serving knife to provide slices to a plate, alternatively.

My professional idea for slicing cake with floss

When you are generating cuts, when you have sliced to the bottom, never pull the floss back up. First, executing that will make your floss messier, which implies you’ll will need to get a new strand each time you make a slice. But additional important, pulling the slice back again up provides crumbs to the prime of your cake and pulls up a little bit of the frosting as well, so you will not get the clean, tidy glimpse you happen to be right after. 

Alternatively, after you’ve got sliced all the way as a result of to the base of the cake, permit go of 1 finish and pull the floss out. Most of the icing and crumbs on the floss will be swept off as you slip the floss out, and you will be left with a clear strand that you can reuse to slice the upcoming slice. 

This is where the floss did not do its occupation

When slicing the greater cakes, I seen the floss occasionally failed to easily lower all the way to the base, it’s possible since of the elevated resistance. If this occurs to you, I suggest slicing the cake in half initial and then doing work with each individual fifty percent so you will find much less cake — and resistance — to slash by means of. It may also help to set the cake on a stand to help you slice all the way through.

An additional note: If you happen to be baking a cake at household, this system will not likely work until you remove the cake from the baking dish or cake pan very first. 

Which sort of floss worked greatest

For my checks, I used waxed floss from Kroger, two sorts from Oral-B Glide (one particular mint flavored, the other unflavored), and two variations from CVS’ shop brand name: a thicker, waxed dental tape and a regular, unwaxed floss. I tried using the floss sorts on 3 cakes: A layer carrot cake containing bits of grated carrot, a single taller and lighter texture sheet cake, and one shorter and denser sheet cake (almost like brownies).

All the floss labored good and produced neat cuts, even with the bits of carrot from the more textured sample cake. The Glide initial floss sliced by the cakes a little bit simpler than the Kroger waxed floss. I believe it is really because the Glide floss felt smoother to the contact and really did glide by means of the cake. 

Inspite of my getting apprehensive that it would snag, the unwaxed floss worked remarkably well and made neat slices.

The only just one that smeared a little bit when making a slash was the dental tape — which appears to be like extra like a ribbon than a thread of nylon floss. It designed a clear slice, while, and I’d use it in a pinch. 

Flavored vs. unflavored floss: Will it improve the style of your cake?

I was apprehensive about whether employing flavored floss would also transfer flavor to the cake slices, but we lower items of a chocolate sheet cake utilizing mint-flavored floss and none of the 4 style-testers could detect a minty taste. To be secure, I would stick with plain, unflavored floss if you can, and steer away from cinnamon or coconut or bubblegum flavors. 

So the next time you happen to be chopping cake, arrive at for the dental floss or something identical — like fishing line, stitching string or a skinny wire.