Monday Must Have: The Palette Knife

The palette knife isn't really a true knife. In fact, the palette knife wasn't originally made for kitchen work, but rather for artists to mix paints and apply them to a canvas. But some of the best tools have come from other professions and have been adopted into the culinary field.

Remember this Monday Must Have? Another great example of a tool that made the cross over to the kitchen.

In my drawers of many kitchen tools, I have nearly a dozen palette knives in several different sizes as part of my collection. These are some of the handiest kitchen gadgets around. I use them daily; for icing cakes, cupcakes, lifting small pastries, lifting cakes for stacking and many other baking projects.

Here are a few of my favorite sizes:


The largest one in the above picture is my favorite size. I use it on almost every cake size that I frost and because of the straight "blade" it allows me to get my icing super smooth and if it's a square cake, it helps create straight and even corners too, which was really helpful on this wedding cake I made last weekend.


The angled palette knife (a cousin to the regular palette knife) is called an off-set spatula and many of the same baking and decorating can be accomplished with either one. But the off-set spatula is a great tool for spreading batter for cakes and jelly rolls, and fillings evenly.

These are just a few of the tasks made easier during my day, thanks to these handy artist/baker tools.
Do you have a palette knife or off-set spatula in your kitchen tool collection? If so, I'd love know how this great tool has made your life easier in the kitchen.