The Ultimate Guide to Scaling Cake Recipes

Ever doubled a cake recipe only to take out a dry rim and a gooey middle?

(Metric & U.S. Measurements for Every Tin Size)

Scaling batters is one of baking’s biggest headaches. This step-by-step guide—and free calculator—lets you resize any recipe with confidence, from 6-inch minis to 12-inch show-stoppers or a tray of cupcakes.

Table of Contents

1. Why Scaling Matters
2. Tin-Volume Basics (with “radius-squared” in plain English)
3. Quick Tin-Conversion Chart (cm, inches, cups, litres)
4. Ingredient Sensitivity by Cake Type
5. How to Scale Leavening Agents Correctly
6. Batter Depth & Baking-Time Adjustments
7. Scaling for Cupcakes & Large Tiers
8. Three Worked Examples

1 Why Scaling Matters

Recipes are mini chemistry sets. Change pan size without adjusting ratios and you risk:

• Under-baked centres & burnt edges

• Collapsed sponges (too deep, too much rise)

• Dry, crumbly cakes (too shallow)

Master scaling once and you unlock custom layers, sheet cakes, wedding tiers and muffin trays—all from the same base batter.

2 Tin-Volume Basics 

The “radius-squared” bit—super simple

1. Diameter vs. radius: diameter is the full width; radius is half.
2. Square the radius: multiply the radius by itself (e.g., 4 cm × 4 cm = 16 cm²).
3. Multiply by 3.14 (π) to get the circle’s surface area.
4. Multiply by tin height to find volume.
   That’s it!

Key takeaway: A 20 cm square tin holds roughly 27 % more batter than a 20 cm round—always check.

3 Quick Tin-Conversion Chart

Quick convert: cm ÷ 2.54 = in | in × 2.54 = cm 

4 Ingredient Sensitivity by Cake Type

5 How to Scale Leavening Agents

Baking powder & soda don’t scale perfectly. When doubling or tripling, use ≈ 90 % of the straight multiple.

Example: 2 tsp baking powder doubled → 3 ½ tsp, not 4.

6 Batter Depth & Baking-Time Cheats 

Butter cakes are perfect at 93 °C / 200 °F internal; sponges nearer 99 °C / 210 °F.

7 Cupcakes & Large Tiers

• Cupcakes: fill liners ⅔ (≈ 55 g / ¼ cup); bake 25-40 % faster.

• Large tiers (> 25 cm / 10 in): use heating cores + baking strips

 8 Worked Examples

Coming Soon Cake-Scaling Calculator

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