An Experience at the Pastry Shop: Learning How to Cut With a Large Knife

— Written by

Ayaémon

in

The weekend has arrived. Since I will go to my brother’s pastry shop and help him until mid-March, I will introduce what I learned last week.

Finishing the macadamia nut pound cake

I mentioned my experience of chopping macadamia nuts days ago (in this article), and let’s look at how they came together as a pound cake.

After mixing ingredients, stirring them, baking, and resting, the pound cake bar was finished, as shown in the following photo.

The pound cake bars, about 30 in total

Then, I peeled off the parchment paper. Usually, it should have been removed while it was warm because it sticks to the cake and becomes difficult to peel off after it cools.

Peeling off the parchment paper

However, my brother seemed unable to have done it due to time constraints and labor shortages.

Learning how to use a large knife

The main task was cutting the cake with a large knife.

Although it looked simple, cutting it vertically was not easy. We can see the cut line on the front side but cannot see the one on the back side. Even if the front could be cut evenly, the back part was sometimes misaligned.

Removing the edges and cutting evenly with a large knife, which is on the right side of the photo. I cut three bars at once.

In addition, cutting beautifully required a skill. A knife cuts well when we push it forward or pull it back, not by pressing down from above. Since it is fundamental for cooking, I also tried to do so first. I pushed the blade away and sliced the pound cake with one large motion.

However, it didn’t go well, even if the knife was sharp enough. The nuts on the edge didn’t cut properly, and that caused crumbled edges, as shown in the following photo.

The edge I could not cut cleanly: it became defective, and it often becomes a gift for the customer’s children.

I could not cut the nuts on the edge well with my way.

Then, a pastry chef taught me that novice knife users should cut while moving the blade back and forth in small motions. That way worked well.

By the way, he mentioned that experienced knife users push the blade forward and slice in a single motion, which was the method I tried first. In other words, there is a difference in results, even if it is the same action and the same blade.

The cut edges became a large amount when gathered.

That made me feel the difference in skill. Even just using a knife requires skill.

This time, I cut about 30 poundcake bars. Although it was a simple action, learning how to use a knife was enjoyable. Even with that experience, I still cannot feel the sense of cutting with the blade. The knife technique was profound.

Wrapping the pound cake

The pound cake that had finally been cut looked like the following.

The macadamia nut pound cake that was cut

You can see that the macadamia nuts were cut cleanly, even the small pieces on the edges. I learned that pastry chefs and customers saw that as beauty. I prefer such simple elegance to more complex aesthetics.

Wrapping individually

Finally, I bagged each piece, added an oxygen absorber, and sealed them. With that, my task was finished.

Conclusion

Although it appeared simple, I learned that there were profound skills.

Even using a knife requires practice.

Anyway, I will go to my brother’s pastry shop and help him today as well.

Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.

Naturally, the edges of the pound cake became my reward instead of a salary. (The right-side one is the edges of the sponge cake with crushed nuts.)

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