12 Cake Tips and Tricks for Beginners

For many home bakers, making cakes and cupcakes from scratch seems overwhelmingly complicated. From baking to decorating, there just seems like a lot of room for disaster. Luckily, with a few tips and tricks from someone who has been there and made that mistake, you can set yourself up for success!

 

This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission as an Amazon Associate (or other affiliate program) from qualifying purchases. I only recommend products that I use and trust. 

This post was originally published on December 20, 2018.  It was republished on December 30, 2021 with updates. 

 

Cake Tips and Tricks

 

There aren’t a ton of opportunities throughout the year to practice your cake and cupcake skills. That’s why it helps to be aware of some basic cake tips and tricks that will make your confections taste and look gorgeous.

 

Baking

 

Flour 

Cake flour is great for producing light, airy cakes. If a recipe calls for only all- purpose flour, try substituting some of it with cake flour.  I do this with a lot of my cakes.  However, some cakes need the gluten content of all purpose flour.  Start out by substituting just a bit at first. This Lemon Blueberry Cake uses just cake flour!

 

 

Coffee + Chocolate

Adding hot coffee or espresso powder to your chocolate cake batter can create a super intense chocolate flavor. You won’t taste the coffee, but it will add depth to your bake.

The heat from the hot coffee (or hot water if you prefer) blooms the cocoa powder. This further develops a rich, full chocolate flavor in your cakes and cupcakes. My recipes for Death By Dark Chocolate Cake and Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes take advantage of this.

 

Prepare for Success

Before you begin baking, pull out and measure your ingredients. This makes recipes quicker and prevents you from discovering that you’re out of cocoa powder halfway through. Make sure to also prepare your pans and preheat the oven.

 

I can be a bit scatterbrained sometimes (okay, a lot of the time), so I made a little Cake Prep Checklist. It’s one of the many freebies available to subscribers in the Bakes & Blunders Resource Library.

 

 

Pan Swap

If you find an amazing cake recipe, but don’t have the right pan, it does not need to be the end of the road. Try a different pan! Naturally, whenever we tweak a recipe, there is a small chance of blunders, but it never hurts to try.

Since I love to switch up my pans, I created a handy Bake Times by Pan Size chart to give us all a bit of a guideline when using a different cake pan. That’s another freebie in the Resource Library!

 

Related Reading: FREE Cake Baking Course for Beginners

Cupcakes

 

Perfectly Portioned Cupcakes

Scoops aren’t just for cookies! Use a #20 scoop or a regular ice cream scoop for regular sized cupcakes and a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon for mini cupcakes.  

Some batters can be very thin. In this case, I suggest using a measuring glass to pour batter into the tins.

 

Easy Fillings

Use an apple corer to make holes in regular sized cupcakes for tasty fillings.  You can buy a cupcake corer, but why waste your money and kitchen real estate on a one hit wonder?  I’ve also seen other bakers use the wide end of a piping nozzle, but I prefer the apple corer.  Make sure to go down just about halfway. You don’t want filling coming out the bottom!

I’ve used this cupcake trick many times, but I think the tastiest was when I made these Snickers Cupcakes.

 

 

Waste Not Want Not

If you have leftover cupcake batter, but not enough to pull out another cupcake pan, try using it in your waffle maker.  The leftover batter from my Mini Dark Chocolate Cupcakes tastes like a brownie!  This is definitely one of my favorite of these cake tips and tricks because it’s a great way to avoid waste.

 

Don’t have a waffle maker? No problemo! I bought these adorable silicone cupcake cases. They are sturdy enough so you can just place them on a small pan, fill, and bake! They aren’t my favorite for a full batch, but they are perfect for making those one or two extra cupcakes!

 

 

Decorating

 

Cool Cakes Completely

Make sure your cake is completely cool before trimming and frosting. If you cut a warm cake, you could ruin the texture that you worked so hard to create. Compressing warm cake could make it taste and feel doughy or stodgy.

A warm cake will melt your delicious frosting and make a mess, so I suggest waiting at least an hour for them to cool. Generally, I cool them for 30- 60 minutes before double wrapping in cling wrap and chilling in the fridge overnight.

 

Crumb Coat & Chill

Cover your filled and stacked cake with a thin layer of frosting to trap those pesky crumbs. Then place the cake in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to firm up. This will make your top coat much easier to apply.  You won’t have to worry about crumbs in your frosting and the chilled crumb coat will provide a smoother, firmer surface for frosting application.

 

Related Reading: How to Design a Cake with Cake Templates

 

Plan & Plan Again

I’ve found that sketching out my cake and cupcake ideas makes the decorating process easier, faster, and look better. But even with the best of planning, things can go wrong. That’s why I try to have a backup plan or two in case I run into trouble or just decide to go a different direction.

As you can see here, I decided to skip the asteroid belt on the top of the bottom tier because I felt a simpler approach would look cleaner. You can check out my Cake Sketch Book or preview one of the templates in the Resource Library.

 

Stay Sharp

Every home baker strives for the day they can have razor sharp edges on each and every cake they make. It took me years to get to this point and it’s all thanks to acrylic cake discs. I wrote a step by step process (with video!) to use these gems like a pro.

Have The Right Tools

It doesn’t matter how many cake tips and tricks you read, you won’t be able to make delicious and beautiful cakes if you don’t have the right tools. Here’s a list of the cake tools I use and love.

 

Related Viewing: Abstract Buttercream Palette Knife Painting Tutorial

 

Happy Baking

 

I hope these 12 Cake Tips and Tricks have been able to build your confidence with cakes.  If you haven’t checked them out yet, I suggest reading up on basic Baking Tips and Tricks, as well as my top Cookie Tips and Tricks.  And if you are wanting to really take your cake game to the next level, check out these posts:

 

• 9 Cake Tools Every Home Baker Needs
• Tips From a Beginner Cake Decorating Class
• 7 Reasons You Can’t Make a Perfect Cake

 

There’s a lot to learn in the small world of your kitchen.  Don’t be afraid to be bold and try something new! A great approach I like to use is to try ONE completely new thing, but keep the rest of your bake easy and manageable.  This way you’re only dealing with one set of unknown variables and the task will be something you can achieve with confidence (or bake trying)!  

If you know a fellow baker that is always looking to improve their cakes, make sure to share this helpful list with them!