One of the things that makes a round cake look more professional is an even top. Also, a flat and level cake surface makes it much easier to decorate. Before you attempt to level your cake, make sure that the cake has cooled completely for at least one hour on a cooling rack.

Unfortunately, because of physics no cake that comes out of the oven is going to have a flat top. Even so, you can give yourself a head start by using a few tools that can help reduce the "dome" appearance some cakes have when they come out of the oven. The first are bake-even strips. These strips are wrapped around the pan before baking and help prevent cracked or domed cake tops. These strips are soaked in water and prevent the outer edge of the cake from baking faster than the inside which allows the cake to bake more evenly. Bake even strips usually come in two different sizes: small and large.

Another tool that can help keep your cake top as flat as possible is a heating core. Heating cores are probably less common than bake even strips and are recommended for cakes 10 inches or larger in diameter. A heating core looks like a tall stainless steel cup and is placed in the center of your cake pan before filling it with batter. You then fill both the pan and the heating core with batter. When the cake is cooled after baking, you then remove the core, pop out the piece of cake inside, and then plug that piece back into the cake. Once you frost the cake, you can't even tell the core was there. It probably sounds strange--but it works!

Once your cake has cooled completely, there's a couple of options for making the top level. The first is to use a precise sawing motion with a long serrated knife to remove the crown of the cake. In order to do this perfectly, you need to keep the knife level as you cut. This can require a bit of practice, and some bakers have perfected this motion after years of experience. However, most people find this method extremely frustrating!

A tool I like to use for leveling cakes is the cake leveler. This tool looks like a hand saw that has a wire instead of a blade. With the cake leveler, you simply adjust the wire to the height you need, and slowly guide the wire through the cake as you keep the feet flat on the table. It works great!

You can also use a serrated knife or the cake leveler to torte your cake, which means dividing your cake into multiple layers. Torting adds a bit of height and drama to your cake since you can fill the layers with different types of icing, pudding, or filling.