To make your boxed cake more flavorful, mix in your own spices, chocolate, or fruit. For perfectly light cakes, stop mixing the batter as soon as the ingredients are well-mixed.
For more accuracy in dividing the batter set an empty cake pan on a digital kitchen scale and press “tare. " Scoop about half of the batter into the pan and repeat this with the other pan until both have the same amount. Then, smooth the top of the batter with an offset spatula. [1] X Research source
The strips help distribute heat as the layers bake, so they don’t puff up in the center.
Don’t open the oven door as the cake bakes or the temperature drop can make your layers fall. If the cake’s done, you’ll see just a few crumbs sticking to the tester. If you pull out the tester and there’s a wet batter stuck to it, set the timer for a few more minutes and test again.
It’s super important to cool the layers before you build your layer cake—if you try to frost a warm cake, the frosting will simply slide off or melt into the cake. Even just chilling the layers for 15 minutes will cut down on crumbs and make it easier to frost the double-layer cake. Want to make your two-layer cake in advance? Bake the layers up to 5 days before you plan on serving the cake. They’ll keep perfectly fine wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge. If you used parchment circles in the pans, peel them off of the cake layers.
Make a double chocolate layer cake by using dark chocolate frosting with chocolate cake or fill a white layer cake with lemon curd and frost it with vanilla buttercream. Cream cheese frosting is fantastic on a carrot cake or red velvet cake. If you’re looking for something lighter, make a whipped cream frosting. The amount of frosting you need for a double layer cake depends on how much frosting you like, but in general, you’ll need a total of 3 to 5 cups (710 to 1,180 ml) of frosting for a double layer cake. To help buttercream frosting to stick to a cake, whip it up very smoothly. You should start with room temperature butter. [5] X Research source Otherwise, the buttercream tends to become very stiff. When the buttercream is very stiff, it is hard to put on the cake and falls from one place to the other.
Brush the tops of the trimmed layers with a pastry brush to remove crumbs that could get stuck in the frosting. Enjoy the trimmed scraps as a snack or save them to make cake breadcrumbs.
Some cake layers aren’t very thick, so it’s best to simply stack the 2 layers while other types of cake make really thick layers that are easy to slice in half. In general, your layers should be at least 2 inches (5. 1 cm) thick if you’d like to cut them in half.
Usually, the side that was on the bottom of the pan is the flattest—this is why you flip the layer over before putting it on the stand.
Brush away loose crumbs as you work so they don’t get stuck in your frosting. If you’re using a soft or loose filling like a fruit jam or custard, pipe thick frosting around the perimeter of the bottom cake layer. Then, spoon the filling across the layer. The frosting perimeter will stop the filling from spilling out.
The crumb coat simply acts as a barrier between the frosting and the cake, so you don’t end up with big crumbs in your perfectly frosted layer cake.
To make it easier to frost, slowly turn the cake stand as you work. If you want really smooth frosting, drag a bench scraper against the sides of the cake as you rotate the stand.
You can keep the cake out at room temperature until it’s time to serve unless the frosting has dairy like whipped cream or cream cheese. If so, stick the cake in the fridge until closer to serving.
