If you’ve ever wondered how to bake flat cake layers for a bakery-style layered cake, I have the solution! Cake strips help prevent cakes with overly brown edges and domed middles. They simply insulate the edges of the metal cake pan so the exterior and interior of the cake bake at the same speed.
Flat cake layers are a must for stacking, as domed cakes are less stable when layered or can lead to a lopsided layer cake. While you can simply trim off the dome with a serrated knife, why waste any cake?! Baking strips will ensure your cakes have a lovely flat top every time. Plus there are so many other advantages to using them. I will break down all of that below, so you know when and how to use them! For more tricks to baking the perfect cake, learn how to soften butter quickly, turn hard brown sugar into soft brown sugar, and make a quick cake flour substitute if you run out!
Why Do Cakes Dome?
Cakes dome because the outer edges bake and set faster than the middle, which causes the middle to rise higher than the edges of the cake. I work hard to develop cake recipes that will rise as evenly as possible on their own, but this can naturally happen when an oven cycles in temperature during baking or bakes at a higher temperature. Luckily, there’s an easy solution to this!
The Simple Trick To Baking Flat Cake Layers
The easiest way to ensure your layers bake up perfectly flat every time is to use baking strips! While a domed middle may not be a big deal for a single-layer cake, flat layers are absolutely essential for properly assembling and decorating a cake with multiple layers. Flat layers affect both the appearance and stability of a multi-layer cake.
Below, you can see a cake layer baked with baking strips baked up taller with an even thickness and flat top. The layer baked without baking strips domed and didn’t rise quite as much.
What Are Baking Strips?
Baking strips are simply fabric strips soaked in water. These strips help even out the baking pace by insulating and cooling the sides of the pan so that the cake rises more evenly, instead of the center rising higher than the outside edges. You can also make your own DIY baking strips (I show you how below!).
In the image below, you can see a distinct difference in how the oven heat affects cake layers. Baking my Naked Cake layers without baking strips produced a cake with dark, crusty edges and a lip around the top. They also did not rise as much and the center domed. This can actually work to your advantage with certain cakes like a Victoria sponge, where classically, you want a domed cake with golden edges. But for my Naked Cake, I want even layers for stacking, and a lighter, softer edge on the cakes for a tender and fluffy slice, so I use baking strips.
How to Bake With Fabric Baking Strips
1. Place the fabric baking strips in a large bowl and cover with cold water.
2. Let the strips soak for 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Squeeze each strip to remove the excess water.
4. Wrap the soaked cake strip around the outside of the cake pans and adjust to tighten them around the pans before filling the pans with batter.
How To Make Your Own Cake Strips
1. Tear off a length of paper towels that’s enough to wrap the outer circumference of the cake pan. Fold the paper towels lengthwise until you have a 2-inch-wide strip. Cut a piece of aluminum foil to be roughly 6 inches longer than the paper towel strips. (For 8-inch cake pans, the foil will be about 30 inches long.) Cut the foil in half lengthwise to create two long pieces. (You only need one strip for each cake pan so reserve the second piece.)
2. Moisten the paper towel strips with water, then gently squeeze out most of the excess water.
3. Lay the wet paper towel strip in the center of the foil, and fold the foil over it from both sides to seal the paper towel inside. You should have a long 2-inch-wide strip of foil with the damp paper towels running through the center.
4. Wrap the foil baking strip around the cake pan, keeping it flat up against the sides. Fold the ends over themselves to close together so the strip is secured.
Use Baking Strips For Any Kind Of Cake
This technique is great for any kind of layer cake recipe (unless specified!). It’s most important for tall layer cakes like my red velvet cake, 6-layer rainbow cake, and German chocolate cake. Even two layer cakes like my vanilla cake, white cake, lemon cake, and strawberry cake benefit.
Baking strips also make a big difference in stir-together or runnier batters like chocolate cake and carrot cake! Runnier batters tend to develop a crispy edge more so than thicker, beaten cake batter and the strips guard against that.
What If My Cake Layers Dome?
A simple fix is to just carefully trim off the dome with a serrated knife so the top becomes flat. You can snack on the trimmed bit or discard it.
Where Can I Buy Baking Strips?
Baking strips are easy to find online, at baking supply stores, or at craft supply stores that have a baking section. I use Wilton’s Bake Even Strip Set.
If you’ve tried this post on how to bake flat cake layers, then don’t forget to rate it and let me know how you got on in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
Carol says
Such a great thing to know, and a relief to get those nice perfect layers. I will be looking into this, whether I buy them or make my own, this is the answer for perfection!
John K. says
Hi Carol,
It really is, I get excited about it! It’s also nice to know that making your own works just as well!
Happy baking!
John
Tiiu Garrett says
Okay so I just made the peony white cake. Used blue food coloring and it turned out green! I did NOT use the egg yolks, so don’t understand that. And my flowers and leaves need practice, but I also made your buttercream that uses just the 1 T. milk and 2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar. I am so pleased! Thank you for giving this regular old home cook the ability to make a pretty cake!
John K. says
Tiiu,
I’m so happy you liked the recipe! Did you use a gel based food coloring? Sometimes water based food colorings can change during baking. This is my favorite cake!
John
Tiiu Garrett says
I did use gel so I don’t know what happened! Color turned out lovely anyway. Since buying the 3 smaller pans to make your peony cake, this is how I plan to make all my layer cakes from now on. So glad you talked about weighing the batter – 3 even sized layers make for such a beautiful and professional presentation. Thanks again!
Melissa says
Can I please the flour in this recipe with cake flour?
John K. says
Hi Melissa,
You absolutely can! When dealing with cakes, you can always use cake flour!
Samira says
hi hi thanks for the good advice i love it! I am so interested in your art
do you ask how many cm is your baking form?
Greetings from Holland!
John K. says
Samira,
I use 6-inch cake pans, so 15.3cm! Hope you enjoy!
John
Cesar says
Do you use 6×2 or 6×3 cake pans?
Thanks!
John K. says
Hello Cesar,
I use 6×2 cake pans. You are most welcome!
Rachel says
This video was fabulous! I learned a lot and I can’t wait to go and bake a layer cake!
John K. says
Rachel,
Thanks so much! I can’t wait for you to try one of my recipes!
John
Teresa says
So when you say to “reuse the tin foil strips” do I need to re-soak the paper towels each time?
John K. says
Teresa,
Yes! Unfold them, re-soak the paper towels and assemble every time you use them!
John
Adrienne says
You have rocked our world!!! My 8 year old daughter and I are new fans and subscribers! We made our first layer cake using this technique. We learned A LOT! We didn’t let the cake cool as long as we should have, so we had the icing issues, but what fun we had baking!
John K. says
Adrienne,
Practice makes perfect! So excited that you got to learn a few new things!
John
Maria says
Hi John,
Do you recommend using a fan forced oven or no fan for even flat cakes?
John K. says
Maria,
I don’t tend to use convection when I bake cakes!
John
Danielle Webster says
How much batter do you put into each baking tin? How much would I need for an 8inch baking tin?
John K. says
Danielle,
I don’t know the exact amount of batter that goes into each pan, but I use a kitchen scale to even them out! Double any recipe on my blog that uses 6-inch cake pans if you’re baking with 9-inch pans!
John
Kim says
This is fantastic!!! Thank you so much. I will be trying the tinfoil version when I next bake ?