Tutorial 2: Separating egg yolks from whites the easy way

A few years ago, when I watched all those fancy-pants cooking shows, I saw Nigella Lawson separate her egg yolks with an incredibly easy and simple method. If you are at all squeamish about touching the slimy innards of chicken eggs, beware: this may not be the best method for you.

Simply put, you just dump the egg into your hand (over the mixing bowl) and let the egg white dribble through your fingers. I used to pass the yolk from one half of the broken shell to the other, letting the white fall out on its own a little bit at a time, but the yolk would sometimes break on a sharp shell corner and all my hard work was ruined.

Gently holding the egg yolk in your hand, with fingers slightly apart to let the egg white escape, but not enough to drop the yolk, and you have easily and quickly separated the two. No hassle, but unfortunately, a lot of mess.

I don’t particularly enjoy the cold slimy egg whites leftover on my hands, but it works so I’ll stick with this method for now. The sacrifices I make for my cakes….

Tutorial 1: How to level a cake for layering or sandwiching

Sometimes the rounded top of a cake is perfect for the recipe, but other times — especially when layering two cakes on top of each other — that rounded cake dome is a problem.

In the past, I’ve gone the easy route and just turned the bottom cake upside down. Viola! Instant flat-topped cake, ready for layering. But sometimes, you just want to nibble on those left-over pieces that you cut off, while you ice the cake and make it pretty to look at. Or something.

Anyway. I present you with a short tutorial, complete with pictures, to discuss a couple of cake leveling methods.

Cutting with a knife

Use a very long knife. In this picture, I am using a bread knife; you could use a butcher knife or something, but just make sure it’s very sharp.

Keep the knife level, and slowly cut across the top.

The end result is supposed to be an evenly flat cake, but I wasn’t particularly successful with this method. It takes practice, and I haven’t bothered leveling my cakes like this in a long time! Lazy chef and all.

Cutting with dental floss (yes, that’s right)

This method is better suited for taking a large single cake and cutting it in half to make a sandwich type cake. Victoria sponge cakes are often cut in half with buttercream and jam in the middle.

Cut yourself a long piece of dental floss, and wrap the ends securely around your fingers.

Wrap the dental floss around the outside of the cake, ensuring that it is in the center all the way around the cake.

Gently tug and pull the floss through the cake, and voila! You have an evenly cut cake with very little effort involved.

Amaze and astound your friends at your next dinner party!