Bento cakes (commonly referred to as lunch box cakes) are versatile desserts ideal for many different occasions – birthdays, graduations, or just because! Bake one today to bring joy to friends or loved ones on any particular day!
Miniature cakes are easy to bake and decorate! Add an adorable message, some small designs, or piped drawings for decoration.
How to Make a Leaning Cake
For an impressive cake, it’s crucial to take time and care when adding layers. By doing so, your final result will look much more stable and have an elegant appearance.
When adding the second or third tiers to a cake, be mindful that each layer is completely flat before applying more frosting on top. A towering layer may press against the frosting beneath it and cause it to lean, forcing the cake to rely in that direction. So be sure that they all lie perfectly flat before you add more on.
Another common factor behind leaning cakes is insufficient frosting firmness, such as using too much liquid in your frosting recipe or not allowing the cake to cool sufficiently before applying buttercream.
Crumb coats should also use firmer buttercream so it will set properly and resist bending, and if any frosting feels soft, put it in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes to firm it up.
If your top tiers seem inclined to lean forward during transport or storage, placing dowels in their sides before stacking can help keep everything secure and prevent shifting decks from shifting during storage or transport.
Start by placing a piece of cardboard the same size as your cake at its base, and using a serrated knife (wear a cutting glove!), cut a half-moon sliver off one side using an offset blade (you will likely end up using this technique for later layers of cake). Build this into what will eventually be your top layer!
Mark sticks that are about an inch shorter than your cake so they can be removed after stacking without worrying that they will extend too far beyond.
Now, you can apply a thin crumb coat, spin it, and check that all layers are standing upright and straight. If any areas appear leaning forward, use a bench scraper or icing spatula to smooth them out.
Fixing a Leaning Cake
Leaning cakes may result from several reasons: layers that were not adequately leveled when stacking may not have been appropriately aligned during assembly; frosting could also have been too soft, allowing layers to move apart quickly. In this situation, chilling the cake in order to firm up its frosting will help push all layers that may have come loose from their position back into alignment.
Leaning cakes may also be caused by uneven pressure when frosting their exterior surfaces. When using a cake turntable or scraper to smooth the frosting, make sure not to apply too much pressure; too much force can damage cake edges and cause them to appear crooked. For best results when smoothing frosting with these tools, hold your comb or spatula perpendicularly against the board.
Dowels used to support each tier of a cake may not be in their optimal positions to ensure that it stays level, in which case, it would be wise to reposition them so that your cake will receive even support.
At times, an uneven cake may be too large for its cake stand; therefore, it’s best to work with what you have and decorate the crookedness with extra flowers or cake toppers – this can help disguise its appearance while also creating a more finished appearance. For more tips on preventing and fixing leaning cakes, check out our Leaning Cake Tutorial!
Leaning Cake Prevention
Lipped cakes appear less polished than their straight-sided counterparts and can be more challenging to frost or stack evenly. Luckily, there are ways around this!
Cakes that lean typically do so because of uneven layers or have an unsightly bulge in the center (commonly known as “a sunken cake”). No matter the cause, however, you can avoid this scenario by making sure your cake is prepared and stacked appropriately.
Utilize a kitchen scale to weigh each layer prior to stacking them for uniformity in weight, and ensure you end up with a flat cake when finished. Furthermore, this scale helps you measure batter more accurately while simultaneously providing each layer is approximately the same size.
MasterClass suggests leaving your cake in its pan for 20 to 30 minutes after it has come out of the oven to allow its outer edges to finish baking and rise while its center continues to expand. Opening and closing your oven door too frequently could also cause it to bake faster on its exterior than its interior, potentially leading to sunken layers as it cools.
Unknown to many is another major contributor to sunken cakes – too much leavening agent! This usually happens when recipes call for too much baking powder or soda, leaving an air-filled cake that quickly deflates when baked. To combat this problem, reduce the amount of leavening agent used in future cakes to stop it from over-inflating and collapsing too soon.
Another effective method for keeping cakes from leaning over is placing toothpicks near each layer’s edge in order to keep it upright while you stack it and prevent brown or overcooked edges from developing as the layers bake in your oven. This also keeps them looking nice!
