20 Tips on How to Bake a Perfect Cake

Okay well obviously this isn't a foolproof guide to baking the perfect cake. Lets be real, some of us just dont know how to bake....however, some of these tips may provide explanations for why your cake looks and tastes like cardboard. You're welcome.

General Tips 

1- Make sure your oven is set in the correct temperature: this is often the solution for many common baking problems like a sunken or collapsed cake.

2- Cake bakes differently in glass versus metal, if using glass you'll want to lower your oven temperature by 25 degrees.

3- Preheat your oven even before you start prepping, its best if the oven is preheated 20-30 minutes before baking.

4- Be sure to use the correct pan size as stated in the recipe.

5- Eggs, butter, milk, and liquids in general should be room temperature; cold ingredients could cause the batter to curdle.

6- To check freshness of eggs, put in a bowl of water–if they sink, they’re fresh. If they float and stand on one end, they’re not.

7- Measure flour and dry ingredients carefully, make sure to use a knife or other flat surface to level off dry ingredients in a measuring cup or spoon.

8-To bring cold eggs to room temperature quickly, you can put the whole eggs into a bowl of lukewarm water (not hot) for 30 minutes.

9-To bring butter to room temperature quickly, you can cut into small cubes on a plate for about 15 minutes.

10- Be careful with your sugar- too much can cause a dark crust or too little can cause a light crust or rough texture. 

11- Don't skip the sifting!

12- For best results, use pure vanilla extract (not from grocery stores)–what a difference! Don’t even be afraid to double the vanilla quantity.

13- When mixing together the butter and sugar, make sure to mix at the least for five minutes. Keep in mind that the longer you mix, the lighter the cake will turn out.

14-Watch your flour, too much can cause a cracked top. 

15- Semisweet & Bittersweet Chocolate are interchangeable.

16- Use a pastry brush to butter the pans.

17- When baking foam cakes like angel food cake, add the flour slowly NOT ALL AT ONCE. Trust me this is what keeps the cake light.

18- The batter should fill the cake generally around halfway, not more than 2/3 unless instructed.

19- Bake the cake in the middle of the oven.

20- Rotate the pans in the middle of baking. 

Further Problems 

-dry cakes as mentioned above, this could be because the oven is too hot; you may need to either lower the temperature or bake your cake for less time. This can also be caused by too much flour or baking powder. 

-Sunken Cake: This is caused by too much liquid, or an oven that's not hot enough. 

-Difficulty Removing Cake from Pan: Make sure to properly grease and flour (yes flour) the pan before you add the batter. You may also want to line the bottom of your pan with parchment paper, especially when baking layer cakes. Be sure to remove the cake from the pan at the right time and allow the cake to cool beforehand for ten minutes. Invert it onto a plate and allow to cool completelyyyy.



Honestly I didnt even know about all these things until I researched. Now i know why my cakes dont turn out that well. I might start putting more cake recipes up soon :P