The Secret of This Ingenious Cake-Frosting Hack Is a $7 Amazon Find

Cory Fernandez
Cory FernandezAssociate Food Editor
Cory is a New York City–based associate editor at The Kitchn, who covers food trends, lifestyle, wine, liquor, spirits, food-related travel, and food features. Before working at The Kitchn, he worked as an editor at Food Network Magazine and was a contributor to The Pioneer Woman Magazine. Cory also occasionally develops recipes, tests products, and contributes SEO content for The Kitchn.
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published Jan 17, 2023
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funfetti cake slice on plate
Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman; Food Styling: Jesse Szewczyk
Martha Stewart’s Sprinkle Cake

Making a layer cake at home can be a super-creative project to take on for someone special or just for fun. While there are many different directions to go in when it comes to decorating, one thing you likely want to do is make sure frosting the cake is easy and super clean.

When you’re getting started with cake decorating, frosting the cake perfectly can be a challenge. Luckily there are many talented bakers and home cooks on TikTok who offer helpful tips on making this task a little easier.

Lori Howell, aka cake360school, demonstrated a technique she uses to get sharp and clean frosted edges on her cakes. In the video, Howell starts off by frosting a frozen cake on top of cake board, similar to when you do a crumb coat, on a rotating cake stand. This prevents excess crumbs from falling off the cake and into the frosting.

After adding the last layer of cake, Howell adds frosting to the top of the cake, spreading it just a little over the edges. Then she adds a sheet of wax paper to the top of the frosting and gently uses her hand to smooth out the surface of the frosting and work out the bubbles.

The Secret to Perfectly Frosted Cakes

But here’s the real hero of Howell’s method: She adds a cake board that is a couple of inches larger than the cake itself to the top of the wax paper and then carefully flips the cake over. After flipping the cake, you can then use the regular cake board (that you normally have at the bottom of a cake) as leverage to steady the cake while you frost the sides.

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Finally, to get the edges super sharp and clean, Howell uses a cake scraper and smooths out the frosting on the sides of the cake. All that’s left to do now is simply flip the cake back over and remove both the cake board and wax paper.

This simple-yet-clever hack doesn’t require you to go out of your way to buy something that’s difficult to find. And if you bake regularly, you may even have some extra cake boards and wax paper to use already! Plus, you don’t have to worry about the top of the cake being lopsided, as it’s balanced out by the cake board.

Buy: MYYZMY 4-Pack Cake Boards, $6.99

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