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Would you ever guess that this cake was made with these cake layers? It's so frustrating when cake
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layers crack or crumble but here's an easy hack to make them usable. First, why do cake layers break
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Straight out of the oven cakes are very delicate because they firm up as they cool so if you turn
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the pans over straight away the cakes can fall apart or crack or crumble as they fall out of
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the pans. If you wait until the cakes cool and then turn the pans over the cakes can stick to
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the pans and you'll find chunks of cake stuck to the bottom of your pans and big holes in your cakes
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Before showing you how to fix these layers, how can you prevent this happening in the first place
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There are three ways. First, check your pans before you use them to make sure they aren't scratched
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or dented. Scratches in the non-stick surface of the pans will open up areas where the cake can
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stick and dents mean that a pan is no longer perfectly round so the cake can't slide straight
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out of the pan. Number two, always grease your pans before pouring batter into them using butter or
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oil or non-stick spray or to be extra safe you can line them with parchment paper, tracing around the
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pans onto the paper and then cutting those circles out and putting them in the bottom of the pan for
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the easiest, neatest turning out of cakes. Finally, after the cakes come out of the oven, wait about
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10 minutes before you turn them out. Keep poking the pans to check the temperature and as soon as
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you can lift the pans up with your bare hands without burning yourself, the cakes are cool
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enough to turn over. Okay now the part you've been waiting for. What can you do to fix broken
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cake layers so that you can use them for your cake? After taking cakes out of the oven, let the layers
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cool completely and then wrap them up tightly in cling film or saran wrap and put them in the
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freezer for two hours or overnight. The pieces will freeze together which makes them much easier
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to handle. Assemble your cake with buttercream as the filling because buttercream acts as glue when
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it sets. Be generous with the filling because it will sink into any cracks or gaps and fill those
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in to make the cake level and stable. Alternate your cake layers and filling and since the layers
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were frozen, they'll chill and set the buttercream filling within a few minutes and that buttercream
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once it's set, will hold everything together like glue. Flatten the sides of the filling if it's
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bulged out by spreading it against the sides of the cake and that will fill in any gaps there to
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make nice straight sides. A crumb coat is essential if your cake layers are broken because this first
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layer of frosting, called a crumb coat, will catch all of those crumbs that come off the cake. Then
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chill the cake for 30 minutes in the fridge or 15 minutes in the freezer and spread on your final
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layer of frosting and since the crumb coat has been chilled, this final coat will sit on top of
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it and none of the crumbs from the crumb coat will get through into this layer of frosting
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Through into this layer of frosting so you'll have beautiful crumb-free frosting and a straight
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level cake and even when you cut into it, no one will ever know how ugly the cake layers were
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originally. Subscribe to my channel for more cake hacks, recipes, tips and frosting and decorating
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techniques and visit my online cake school for courses and live workshops. Thanks for watching
