Food Styling for Photographers

DESSERTS

Apply enough pressure in a slow sawing motion to cut

the cake without tearing it. Be careful to keep the knife

blade straight and not angled. Repeat this process for

all the layers of your hero cake.

Place one cake layer on the clean hero plate. Cut 3-inch-

wide strips of parchment paper and tuck these strips

under the edge of the cake layer so that the entire exposed

surface of the plate is protected by the paper. Also lay

strips inside the cut opening of the cake. Next, place one

template unit on the cake layer aligning the template to

maintain a 1/2-inch margin around all edges. Continue

this process of alternating cake layers and templates, and

top the assembly with a cake layer when the desired

height is reached.

Make sure the cake edges are even and level to camera.

Align the paper template on top of the cake to indicate

the position of the square holes you cut in the templates,

and insert a skewer through each of the three square

holes so the skewer passes through the cardboard tem-

plates and the cake. With a wire cutter, snip away any

skewer that extends above the top layer.

Th e fi lling only needs to be applied to the interior edges

of the cake that the camera sees. Once fi lling is inserted

between the layers, the cardboard templates will be

hidden from the camera. Apply the fi lling between layers

using a pastry bag and tip, as described in the chapter

section below for the hero slice, and trim or smooth away

the excess fi lling. Refer to the section on frosting the cake

and slice for frosting techniques.

Building a Hero Slice of Cake

Next, it’s time to cut wedges of the cake that will become

the layers of the hero slice. Use the extra cake layer, or

the leftover sections removed from the layers of the

larger cake, to cut wedges for the hero slice. Use the paper

pattern you created to determine the size of the slice as

a guide. Apply enough pressure with the serrated knife,

using a slow sawing motion, to cut the cake without

tearing it. Be extra careful as you cut toward the tip of

the wedge shape because it can easily tear.

Th e triangular holes in the cardboard templates allow

wooden skewers to be inserted to help hold the layers

and templates together and to keep them aligned prop-

erly. Depending on the size and fragility of the cake, use

either two or three thin skewers to secure the slice assem-

bly. Note that at this point, the assembly may not be

totally stable.

It is easier for me to build the hero slice on the hero plate

rather than building it on another surface and then trans-

ferring it to the hero plate later. Even if the hero slice is

built on a piece of acrylic sheet and then transferred to