How to divide a cake into perfect horizontal layers

"Torting" = cutting the cake horizontally to create layered cakes.
Making layered cakes has always been an insurmountable challenge for me: I could never tort a cake. The knife would always go at an angle and I would end up with clumsy scraps of cake. I tried many things: putting toothpicks in the cake to mark where it should be cut, using dental floss or a Wilton cake leveler – they just would not cut it for me ;-).
And then one sleepless night I came up with a method that so far had produced 3 perfectly torted cakes. And the best thing was: I did not need to buy any specialized equipment.

What you need:
- A baked cake
- One container with straight level walls that the cake can fit into (can be a cake pan, in which the cake was made)
- Several flat plates / coasters that fit into the container to support and elevate the cake
- A sharp knife with a blade longer than the width of your container

In my case I used a 6 inch cake, a 7 inch plastic food storage container, three 7 inch round cork coasters and an 8 inch chef’s knife.

What you do:
1. Gently mark with the knife place on the side of the cake where it should be cut.
2. Put the needed amount of support (coasters / plates / cardboard) into the container, so that when the cake is placed on the support the cutting mark will be exactly at the level of the container walls. The cake should be stable and parallel to the container floor.
3. Hold the top of the cake with one hand, to hold the cake in place. With the other hand cut the cake so that the knife is supported by the container walls both near the handle and near the tip. Make slow steady sawing motions with the knife, making sure it at all times lies flat on the container walls.
4. Voilà!

And this is the link to the recipe of the Hzelnut Raspberry Mousse cake in the photos.