Hawaiian Palette-Knife Painted Sideways Cake – “Cake Top Forward” Style

Before 2021, a sideways cake meant one thing — trouble. However, this year, a new trend emerged from the culinary world. A sideways cake, sometimes coined “cake top forward,” is as simple as it sounds. And, today, I’ll show you the quick method to shake things up and create one for yourself.

Instead of sitting a stacked layer cake on its flat surface, this revolutionary trend rotates things about 90-degrees to place your cake on its rounded side. The unique positioning prominently features the top of the cake, earning the well-named hashtag: #caketopforward.

It creates a beautiful, flat canvas on which you can feature decor as creative or as simple as you’d like. The options are endless!

Sideways Cake Top Forward Tutorial

So, let’s begin! First, peruse the materials list to make sure you have everything you’ll need. Then, review my step-by-step directions, paying careful attention to the photos and tips. And, as always, don’t forget to have fun!

Recipes, Items, and Tools You’ll Need

You can create a sideways cake in almost any size imaginable, so make sure to pay attention to your specific recipe for special tools you may need. However, here’s a basic list to get you started. I’ve included some shopping links (affiliate) for easy reference!

• Cake board in the same size as your cake layers
• Chilled, stacked, crumb- and final-coated cake — it helps to use a crusting American buttercream, but this isn’t a strict rule. If you need some cake and buttercream flavor ideas, feel free to browse my recipe index.
• Extra or leftover buttercream (it doesn’t need to be much unless your decorating idea is quite extensive)
• Long, thin knife
• Offset spatula
• Decorative cake stand (this is in addition to the turntable your cake will likely rest on after coating it in buttercream)
• Additional items I used, optional for decorating:
  • Piping bags and tips
  • Parchment paper
  • Food coloring gel
  • Food-safe palette knives

Preparing Your Cake – Important Cake Board Tip

Today, for brevity, I won’t discuss basic cake decorating techniques like leveling and stacking layers, or adding a smooth crumb/final coat of buttercream. For an in-depth tutorial on that, check out my video and written guide, here. However, there is one tip I’d like to mention that will dramatically impact the end result of your sideways cake top forward creation.

Before stacking your cake, tape your cake board down to the turntable. Then, smooth buttercream over the entire cake board — yup, all over it.  This is a bit different, as most bakers usually only put a bit of frosting down to hold the cake in place. Yet, since our final #caketopforward result isn’t going to sit on its bottom, we want to ensure said bottom will have a finished look as well.

So, simply smooth a thin, but good layer of buttercream onto the cake circle before stacking your cake like normal. Then, later on, once the cake is flipped onto its side, you can peel the cake board away to reveal a perfectly smooth back surface, without messing up your nicely smoothed sides. After all, we want our cake to look spectacular from all angles!

Let’s Get A Lil’ Sideways – Creating Your Cake Top Forward Cake

So once your cake is frosted and smoothed to perfection, pop it in the refrigerator until the buttercream is solid to a gentle touch. Then, we begin the fun part.

1. Cut Off A Small Piece Of Cake To Create The New “Bottom”

Using your long, thin knife, remove a small slice from one side of the cake. Try to cut as evenly as possible to create a flat base on which your cake will eventually sit. At this point, you can use a very sharp knife to slice off the remaining semi-circle of the cake board and discard it.

The smaller the section of cake that you cut, the more eye-catching this #caketopforward style appears, but if it works better with your design goal to remove more, then do it! I’ve seen cakes that look almost as if they’re floating, and cakes that are almost complete semi-circles and, let me tell you, both look amazing! You do you! 🙂

2. Lightly Frost The Uncovered Section Of Cake

Next, with an offset spatula, apply a thin layer of buttercream to the newly exposed section of the cake. This step is twofold, as it not only secures the cake to the final cake stand but also helps lock into the cake moisture and any fillings between the layers.

3. Transfer The Cake From The Turntable To The Final Cakestand

In this final step, you’ll have to use a bit of coordinated moving between your hands and cake stands to transfer and simultaneously flip the cake. If your cake or cake stands are really heavy, I recommend finding a helper, but this is pretty doable on your own, too.

First, slide a knife under the cake board to cut any tape holding it to the turntable. Slide the cake board to the edge of the turntable, but don’t let it tip over if it’s heavy.

Then, in one hand, grab the base of your turntable. With the other, grip the base of the final cake stand. Lift the cake stand up, rotate your wrist 90-degrees towards your cake, and place the cake stand’s flat surface against the flat surface of your cake. Try to center it, if possible. Finally, with one swift motion, rotate both of the cake stands 90-degrees, turning the final cake stand back to its upright position. Pull the turntable away, and voila!

4. Remove Cake Board and Smooth Any Bumps

Carefully peel away your cake board from the back of the cake, and smooth out any bumps that remain around the edges. I find that this is done more easily when the cake is still pretty chilled, but work with it how you prefer.

5. Decorate Your Sideways Cake Top Forward Cake

Now, let your creative side run wild! Adorn your cake with buttercream, fondant, cookies, meringue, flowers, wafer paper, ganache, or even paint on it! You can use gel food coloring, edible paints, or buttercream/palette knives for an artistic look!

Here are some of my favorite decorating tutorials to inspire and help you:

• Buttercream-Piped Succulents, Cacti, and Desert Flora
• Gold-Painted Stenciling
• Wintery Blue Buttercream Flowers
• Palette-Knife Painting
• Springy Buttercream-Piped Flowers
• Fresh, Dried Flower Cascade
• Gold Ganache Drip Cake
• Gel Food Coloring-Painted Fondant Tiles (tutorial coming to the blog soon — sign up below for post notification)

For my cake creation, I used palette knives to paint a Hawaiian ocean scene and then added some frozen buttercream flowers. Then, I piped on some little pink blossoms with a tiny star tip for a touch of whimsy. Feel free to reference the tutorials above to create your own culinary creation! Again, remember to have fun and enjoy the process!

Don’t forget to find me on Instagram so we can keep in touch, and be sure to tag me in any photos you post of your cake! I love to see what you’re working on in the kitchen.

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Take care guys! Until next time…

XOXO

P.S.

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P.P.S

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