Tips for slicing difficult pastries

[Abra]

Is it ok to ask just one Idiot Question? What's the secret for perfect slicing of the Fraisier, and the Dacquoise? Slice frozen, hot knife? Perfect slicing is the key to so many things, and I can never get a definitive answer. Beautiful work, y'all!

[lperry]

I'm bumping the thread in the hopes that someone out there knows a trick for slicing fudgy brownies. Even on the first cut, the knife comes out with chunks. I use the prototypical "thin, sharp knife" and I even wait until they cool (sometimes).

Suggestions?

Thanks-

Linda

[Beanie]

I'm bumping the thread in the hopes that someone out there knows a trick for slicing fudgy brownies.  Even on the first cut, the knife comes out with chunks.    I use the prototypical "thin, sharp knife" and I even wait until they cool (sometimes). 

Suggestions?

Thanks-

Linda

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I always freeze them first, then cut. I have a 14" knife with handle on each end and just push down. The blade's a little too thick, but it works pretty well.

[tejon]

Chilling brownies thoroughly really does the trick. I worked at Mrs. Field's way back when and that's how they cut up the sheet pans of brownies (measured out perfectly before cutting, natch).

[Wendy DeBord]

Oh boy, I really think you develop a feel for cutting desserts. I prefer to use a thin long knive and rinse it under hot water (and wipe dry) between each slice. But depending upon what your cutting and what state it's in, sometimes I need to use a heavy weight long knive. I'll use that to make my major cuts.........like to cut an item in half. Then I'll use my thin bladed knive to cut individual portions from there.

I have to cut all of my items at work and sometimes it's really not alot of fun. I almost always freeze cakes and torte items and cut them as they're semi-frozen. You really have to do that with fragile cakes.

Items with buttercream, I cut very close to room temp. or the buttercream cracks because its too cold.

Soft meringues cut better frozen, then room temp.. Then you can extert force and they won't smash downward. Using a serated knife and sawing thru meringues is preferred..........but sometimes when you have to cut a couple hundred slices..........I just give up and go with freezing and force.

All cookie bars (except lemon) I cut semi-frozen.

Napoleons or items layered with puff pastry I use a serated knive and a sawing motion to slice.

[etalanian]

Dental floss works well with brownies, souffle cakes, and other soft, gooey things. When I make marshmallows I cut them next to my gas stove and wipe and heat the knife with each cut.

I didn't know you could freeze soft meringues. How long can they be frozen? I've never had good luck with this.

Eileen

[K8memphis]

Oh boy, I really think you develop a feel for cutting desserts...

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And an idea to help you get the feel of it without ripping up everything in the meantime is to do half by half. Like start in the middle of the pan and pull the knife toward you--do all your cuts on that side--then flip the pan around & do the other half. Or start from the edge and stop in the middle. Usually your first few inches will cut ok. It's after you start collecting product on your knife blade that things get out of hand.

It helps to use a long blade generally speaking and of course break the surface with the tip then lower the knife into the product, the edge of the pan will prevent you from sinking the knife all the way in and pull the knife tip back toward the edge (or the middle), so at the end of your run your elbow will be all the way up in the air and the knife will be sticking up like King Arthur's sword in the stone. Umm, I cut brownies hot all the time like this. Umm, of course you have to clean the blade each time blah blah blah. And of course this doesn't work for everything. Press & hold the top down with two fingers when removing the blade.

If you see you cannot make it to the edge of the pan without ripping it up, stop slicing and remove the blade, clean it & start over.

But I see people (who won't listen) trying to cut whole sheet pans of stuff and ripping the shit out of it and complaining complaining complaining--jeez louise pick up the friggin' blade, use hot water, clean the blade off and shut the f up. Sorry I just needed to say that so bad--not to anyone here of course...feel so much better now

I saw this great fudge cutter on tv. It was a solid steel plate with long skinny slice 'holes' in it--so the steel plate hovereded just on the top of the fudge and the cutters went down through the slice holes and got cleaned off coming backup through the slice holes--the metal plate keeps the fudge down there so it doesn't rise backup with the cutters--it was awesome. So I guess they turned the pan to get the cross cuts. The fudge guy had a patent on it--genius.

[Redsugar]

What's the secret for perfect slicing of the Fraisier, and the Dacquoise?  Slice frozen, hot knife?  Perfect slicing is the key to so many things, and I can never get a definitive answer.

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Oh yes, Le Frasier -- the "strawberry-plant" cake!! (Your post seized my attention primarily because I make a frasier each July for my own birthday.) This mousseline-cream-filled sponge cake cake is chilled until the delectable moment you portion it with a serrated baker's knife (which features a thinner blade than that fitted on a bread knife.)

My knives at work are mostly Forschner Fibrox.

My three main slicing knives are: A Wüsthof 10-inch serrated bread knife & 10-inch serrated confectioners’ knife, the latter used for such baked-meringue confections as dacquoises, pavlovas, & vacherins; and a Forschner 12-inch baker’s knife for horizontally slicing denser products, such as lebkuchen cakes. Also, a 7-inch cake-knife blade is useful for slicing many types of layer cakes into service portions.

Angel food cake is easiest to slice (after it's been chilled) with a serrated knife, rather than one of those outsized steel hair-pick gadgets.

As Wendy has noted, a hot well-honed, plain-edged slicer is ideal for deftly cutting many non-meringue & non-puff-pastry items. (An Apple Jalousie, for example, is served close to room temperature; whereas a Gâteau Saint-Honoré is kept refrigerated until serving time. On the other hand, a Paris-Brest cream-puff ring is usually served within 1 hour of assembly; if not, it’s necessarily refrigerated.)

[Woods]

Is it ok to ask just one Idiot Question?  What's the secret for perfect slicing of the Fraisier, and the Dacquoise?  Slice frozen, hot knife?  Perfect slicing is the key to so many things, and I can never get a definitive answer.  Beautiful work, y'all!

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I don't think there is a way to do it neatly. I asked our chef while in school about cutting daquoise cakes and he said you can't do it. Its even worse with japonaise. I made a conversation tart the other day that has a caramalized royal icing topping. It shatters! So maybe there isn't a definitive answer? Woods

[jgarner53]

For things like flourless chocolate cakes, we heat up knives on the stove and let the heat of the knife melt through the cake. It makes for a clean cut, and while it does produce a fair amount of smoke (from burning chocolate), we can usually get at least 3 cuts before the heat in the knife dissipates, and we have to wash it off and stick it back on the stove. All depending on the temp of the cake, of course. The colder the cake, the fewer cuts you'll get.

For our napoleons, we have a specially made trough for assembly and cutting. It's got slits at regular intervals (to produce a total of 12 slices), so once it's assembled, you just use a serrated knife to carefully saw through each slit.

For cakes with buttercream, it's the knife in the hot water trick.

[lperry]

Many thanks for the tips. I'm a home pastry maker, but I like things to have a nice presentation. I'll try several of these methods.

-Linda

[Wendy DeBord]

Ulimately, when I want to make something that I know will be really hard to slice, I make it in individual portions so I don't have to cut it.