Even the most beautiful cake decorations aren’t so beautiful on a lopsided, messy cake. Before you decorate, you’ll need to level the cake layers and fill your layer cake neatly and evenly. The process is simple, and with a few tips and tricks your cakes will look perfect and ready for decorating.

This video shows the basic techniques you’ll need to use to get your layer cake level and filled properly. The key to a neat and even filling layer is to pipe a ring of icing around the outer edge of the bottom layer. The icing acts as a dam to hold the filling neatly in between the layers of cake.

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