Slice Your Cake and Stack It, Too, With the Zenker Cake Slicing Kit

[Photograph: Frieling]

I still remember the first time I was faced with slicing a layer cake in half horizontally. It was a bit of a disaster.

Okay, I was nine years old, but I haven't gotten all that much better despite having better knives and trying all sorts of tricks that are supposed to make it easier.

The Zenker Layer Cake Slicing Kit ($58.50) has turned me into a cake slicing expert. Heck, it could turn my nine-year-old self into an expert. There's nothing to set up or adjust. Just slice between the guides, and you can slice a cake into multiple layers.

But wait, there's more! ...I mean, it's a kit, so you get some extras. It comes with a large cake lifter, which you'll need if you're going to be lifting and moving thin layers of cake. The 11-inch wide lifter would also be handy for shuffling small pizzas around.

There's also a knife. Okay, everyone's got a knife or two, but you might not have one that's long enough to slice a cake in half horizontally, such as the nearly 12-inch long serrated knife that comes in the kit. It's plenty long, and the serrations make it fine for slicing bread as well as cake.

Layer cake success! [Photograph: Donna Currie]

The slicing guide is said to adjust to fit 10- and 11-inch cakes, but I recently used it for a 9-inch cake and an 8-inch cake with success. The 8-inch was a very loose fit, but it didn't matter since you don't actually need a snug fit for this to work.

Overall, I'm really pleased with this and foresee a lot more multi-layered cakes in my future.

Zenker Stainless Steel Layer Cake Slicing Kit with 12" Serrated Knife, 3-Piece

$49.99from Amazon

Disclaimer: Testing samples were provided to Serious Eats.

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