Breaking Up an Iron Cake

[Sam.]

So I bought a sheng iron cake from Yunnan Sourcing back in August and I haven't touched it since. I decided to break it up and try some and.. geez! It really deserves its "iron" name. How do you break these things up? It's so tight and compact I'm seriously afraid of slicing my hand open. I got a few bits to flake off and gave up.

[shogun89]

Yeah, I have a few, and they are a b****. Though you break some leaves this by doing this, it is the only way, unless you steam but I am wary of that method. Just take your knife and stick it right in the middle of the edge of your cake and shove it in, take it our and repeat around the sides of the first cut, then wiggle the blade, you should be able to get a chunk off. And be very careful about your hands!

[wyardley]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8CGWnDxDbo

[shogun89]

I would assume you would only want to do this after it is aged, yes? because if its new this would probably allow too much airflow and dry the cake out. Is this correct?

[wyardley]

I think most people wouldn't want to break the whole cake up until it's ready to consume. So if you just want to chunk off a little to try, you'd want to just wedge off a corner or something.

The tiebings I have aren't that hard to break up. I usually use an oyster knife, though the slight curve in the blade isn't always ideal.

[Sam.]

I'm not really trying to age the cake. It hasn't been stored in humidity or with lots of air circulation. I'm still in a college apartment and don't really have the means to age pu-erh. I've never even had an aged pu-erh, just 1 or 2 years old when I buy it.

I've seen that video before and that's how I tried to break it up, but to no avail. It's a really thin cake. http://cgi.ebay.com/2008-Yuan-Nian-Blue ... 8515wt_948 That's the cake I bought. It's so thin that the blade won't really slide in toward the center like I've done on previous cakes.

I think I'm just going to have to get a hammer and chisel.

[gingkoseto]

No matter how you break it, point the knife or whatever downwards only and don't put any of your fingers in that direction. Lesson of blood this is

[shogun89]

nobody wants blood on their teacake

[MarshalN]

I think instead of a letter opener, I find tuocha picks to be much better at these things, with less breakage.

[beecrofter]

A 16d common nail is soft enough to flatten the pointy end of with a few hammer blows and makes a passable pick, just file or sand any thin burrs off. A few minutes with a belt sander will turn almost any stainless place setting table knife into a decent pick.