How to Divide Cake Batter:

An Easy Tip for Even Layers

Image by Susan Foster

I have loved to bake cakes for as long as I can remember. For years, however, the task of making a two-layer cake intimidated me. It never seemed like I could get the layers to bake evenly, and my cakes were always lopsided.

A Major Cake Disaster

One summer when I was in high school, we were visiting my grandparents in Pennsylvania. A large gathering of family members were coming to dinner for my grandfather’s birthday. I offered to make the birthday cake, and my grandmother supplied me with a cake mix.

We had been living in Spain, and the only cakes I had ever made were from scratch. By comparison, the cake mix seemed so easy. My cake layers (of course) were horribly uneven, but I decided it was nothing that a lot of icing couldn’t fix!

Using the only chocolate frosting recipe I knew, I made up a batch of frosting and loaded it on, smearing it between and on top of the two layers until the top appeared flat and smooth.

Later that day, to my horror, I realized that one layer had slid nearly off the other, and the whole cake was breaking into pieces. The heavy frosting had been too much for the light and airy cake texture that the cake mix had produced.

I was mortified and begged my grandmother to let me make another cake before dinner. She saw no sense in wasting what would still be a delicious dessert, and scooped it into a 9 x13 inch pan.

She told me, “ We will serve it from the kitchen, and no one will ever know”.

Thankfully, I have a supportive family

My grandfather had a sense of humor. He caught on that something was not quite right with his cake. When we started bringing plates of cake to the table he said, “But, where’s my birthday cake? I want to see my cake and blow out my candles.” He kept insisting, until my grandmother stuffed a few candles in the pan of cake and (stifling her giggles) brought it over to him.

We all ended up laughing about it — and trading stories of our cooking mishaps. I learned that cooking efforts don’t always have to be perfect, and that maybe an…