How to turn a sheet cake into a 4 layer cake

Hello everyone! Today I am posting a tutorial sans recipe. This tutorial is meant for my fellow home chefs who love the look and taste of a layer cake but do not want to spend money on special pans, knives, or spatulas. The only thing you really need is a 12×17 (or similar) sheet pan. If you do not have a sheet pan that size, GO GET ONE NOW! Preferably from a commercial restaurant store. Links for the recipes I used and articles that inspired me can be found at the bottom.

I make my sister a funfetti cake every year for her birthday and last year I decided to try and use Christina Tosi’s method for creating layer cakes. It turned out really successful so I did it again this year! I am writing this tutorial down so that both you and I can have access to this method.

  • Pick a cake recipe specifically designed for a 12×17 sheet pan.
  • Have a bowl handy. Dimensions for the bowl should be about 6-7 inches to create a 4 layer cake.
  • Pick a frosting recipe that creates at least 3 cups but preferably 4.
  • I always line my sheet pan with parchment paper and oil so that my cakes easily come out.
  • Other tools: butter knife, spatula, 7 squares (3 large and 4 small) of wax or parchment paper and a pretty cake stand to sit the cake stand on!
  • First things first: bake the cake, and let it chill. Literally. Stick it in the fridge or freezer until it is cold so it’s easy to cut.
  • Using a 6-7 inch bowl*, press into the cake 3 times. Use a spatula and carefully lift the cake circles out of the pan. *I used a plate in the photo above, to the right. However I recommend a bowl to ensure perfect circles, plates give you wonky circles.
  • Layer your perfect cake circles in between 3 large pieces of large wax or parchment paper so they don’t stick together. The wax/parchment should be big enough so that they cakes don’t touch.
  • Line your cake stand with 4 small pieces of wax/parchment paper. See both photos above. Lining them means you can frost the cake without dirtying up your cake stand.
  • Now we have 3 perfect circles, but what about the 4th layer? Well that layer comes from the leftover scraps of cake and it will be our BOTTOM LAYER (see left photo above). Combine the cake chunks as best you can into a similar shape onto a cake stand as your first 3 layers.
  • Time to frost the cake! I used between 1/2 cup and 3/4 cup between each cake slice. Use what feels right. However remember to save at LEAST 1 cup for frosting the exterior of the cake. Ideally you want 1.5 cups for the outside, hence picking a frosting recipe that gives you 4 cups.
  • After I frosted between the layers it looked the photo above on the left. You can see the distinct layers but not really the frosting because I didn’t go heavy on that. I used a plate when cutting the cake pieces, so I got very jagged edges. Don’t be like me and REMEMBER to use a bowl which gives you nice, smooth edges!
  • I gave the frosting a crumb coat (just a bit of frosting to seal the edges, especially important because this technique is very crumb-y…haha puns!) My boyfriend called it an asteroid cake because it was lumpy. So again, USE A BOWL WHEN “CUTTING” THE CAKE PIECES TO GET PERFECT EDGES!
  • Chill the crumb coated cake for 15-20 minutes then add the remaining frosting and decorations.
  • This photo above is the finished product! I
  • To see how the layers look when you *do* use a bowl, I have this photo below which shows the cake I made her in 2018…when I used the damn bowl. I went heavy on the frosting between layers so you can distinctly see them, I also dyed them pink with gel coloring which was fun!

This photo shows the inside layers when cut. I apologize again for the blurry photo but this was taken the day of my sisters party and well… family is more important than crystal clear photos okay! You can see the distinct layers, although the bottom one is a bit discreet because I didn’t use as much frosting.

I always refrigerate my cakes until a few hours before serving. That chill time really gives me perfect, neat slices.

I hope you all have fun using this tutorial. If you have any questions, leave a comment below!

Recipes and Sources Used:

Funfetti sheet cake recipe

Cream cheese frosting recipe

Coveteur Article on Christina Tosi

Serious Eats Article/Tutorial on Christina Tosi

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