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Writer's pictureA Siegle

Top 5 Tips for Cleanly Cutting Dessert Squares

The holidays are coming! The holidays are coming!


The season of baking and the smorgasbord of desserts is nearly upon us. With the holidays coming up, I thought I'd share my techniques for cleanly cutting dessert squares with chocolate on top - so they don't crack!

I'll share photos of my Millionaire Shortbread squares I made last week (I can show you what TO do and what NOT to do! 🤣)


Here are my 5 top tips for cleanly cutting dessert squares that have chocolate on top.


Tip 1 - Patience


First things first - make sure you give yourself at least 20 minutes to slice your squares. If you don't want your chocolate to crack, the process can't be rushed! If you do this in a hurry, you'll have cracks all over the place and it will look like a bone-dry desert or a broken glass mosaic (rush it if that's the look you're going for!)


Millionaire Shortbread Dessert bars topped with chocolate; red arrows pointing out cracks in the top
My Millionaire Shortbread squares with a few cracks due to my impatience.


I was doing this before I rushed off on a trip to Saskatchewan so there were some cracks - don't do what I did on those parts. It was definitely because I was not patient that there ended up being a few cracks.


Tip 2 - Measure


If you had asked me years ago if I thought a ruler would be a useful baking tool I would have laughed in your face. Not so anymore! I regularly use a set of stainless steel rulers when preparing cake layers, making sure my cakes are in the centre of the cake board, and making sure my dessert squares are all the same size!


Chocolate topped dessert bars being measured with a stainless steel ruler

I cut the rough edges of the outside so they are nice and smooth, then I measure the length and width to determine how many slices I want out of the dessert. I mark the square size along all the edges with my ruler and paring knife.


person measuring and marking where to cut dessert squares with a paring knife


I cut mine in 2 x 2 inch squares and I had 24 squares in total. It was 4 squares by 6 squares. I used a 9x13 Wilton pan so in cutting off the edges to make them nice and clean, I reduced the overall size to 8 x 12.


Tip 3 - Heat your knife blade


I actually have a kitchen-only heat gun that I use for my baking. I bought it specifically to use when tempering chocolate but I have found it extremely useful for cutting squares that have chocolate on top. I blow the high heat along the bottom of the knife blade (careful that you don't heat the entire blade or you'll burn your hand if you have to press down on the top of the blade later).


product photo of a yellow and black DeWalt heat gun with accessories.
DeWalt Heat Gun

You DO NOT need a heat gun to do this, though! You can achieve the same effect by running your knife under extremely hot water then drying it off with a paper towel before slicing your squares. Heat it up in this manner after every row of slicing.


a faucet with running water

Tip 4 - Rest the blade on the chocolate


This tip is KEY. Once you've heated your knife blade, set it on top of the chocolate in the place you are planning to cut. Hold the blade edge against the chocolate until it melts it and sinks in through the chocolate. Do NOT press down until you feel it sink into the chocolate! If you do it before it melts through, the chocolate will crack. Once it's sunk through the chocolate layer, press down until it's all the way through the squares.


See how it's melting a bit before I press down:

person using large knife to cut chocolate topped dessert squares


Tip 5 - Wipe the knife blade after each slice


Make sure to keep the blade clean or it will drag chocolate through all the other layers and mess the chocolate up with the other layers. Always make sure you wipe the blade dry after you've heated it up as well - it will keep things tidy and chocolate doesn't like water!


person cutting dessert squares with long knife; tray of pre-cut squares.


If you sliced off the edges, your total area will be slightly smaller and the squares will fit back in the pan snugly if you want to transport them in the pan. You can also place them on a nice dessert tray to show off your beautiful & clean slicing skills.


Try out these tips and let me know how your clean-cut squares work out!



dessert squares topped with chocolate being cut with a large knife
Millionaire Shortbread Bars


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