Don’t Crowd the Oven

Getting the perfect rise on a cake is a fine art, but one that is easy to teach.

Among the first things you learn when baking is to not crowd the oven. Give your tins plenty of room, preferably their own shelf in the oven. Ideally though, you should try to cook just one large cake or one tray of cakes at a time. Putting too many tins in the oven can affect the cooking times, as your oven will have to work a lot harder to cook multiple cakes, and so your bakes will take longer.

If you absolutely have to bake two trays at one time (because cake frenzies do happen!), make sure you switch the position of the trays halfway through the cooking time so that they each get the best position in the oven. This will also ensure that both cakes cook evenly.

Patience is a virtue, so they say, so bake carefully, give your tins plenty of room, and you’ll be enjoying perfectly baked cakes in no time!