You Shouldn’t Be Cutting Cake Into Triangles

If you asked 100 people to cut a cake, 99 of them would likely slice the cake into even triangles. It’s an all-too-common practice, and as math has proven, it’s not always the most efficient way to go about it (particularly if you plan on having leftovers).

But what about the flip side — the birthday party where everyone you’ve ever known turns up, despite half of them never RSVPing? Or when your second, third, and first-twice-removed cousins drop by your BBQ unannounced?

There’s one simple solution: this cake-cutting technique. Australian baker Katherine Sabbath posted an Instagram video of a friend slicing into one of her treats. For the first time ever, people weren’t as mesmerized by the cake itself as they were how it was sliced.

Sabbath’s friend makes horizontal slices across the cake, flipping the one-inch thick slab of cake onto a cutting board. From there, she cuts it into one-inch strips, creating columns of cake. Using this technique, a cake that’d normally serve 6 to 8 (when sliced into triangles) can serve 30. Sure, they’re getting smaller pieces, but you can always go back for seconds. Or thirds.

It’s been watched almost 1.3 million times in a little more than a week, and though the technique may seem odd, it’s one professional bakers and caterers often use at weddings to make it easier to divvy up larger layer cakes, like this:

Check out the full technique, which commenters are calling “game changing,” here:

 

A fine example of how to cut my whopper of a cake into responsible servings! The best thing about this is, you can always go back for seconds or thirds ?? With thanks to Julie of @theofficialpandora for your nifty knife skills xo

A post shared by Katherine Sabbath (@katherine_sabbath) on Jun 9, 2017 at 2:49pm PDT

From Delish