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
- Why Scaling Matters
- Tin-Volume Basics (with “radius-squared” in plain English)
- Quick Tin-Conversion Chart (cm, inches, cups, litres)
- Ingredient Sensitivity by Cake Type
- How to Scale Leavening Agents Correctly
- Batter Depth & Baking-Time Adjustments
- Scaling for Cupcakes & Large Tiers
- Three Worked Examples
1 Why Scaling Matters
Recipes are mini chemistry sets. Change pan size without adjusting ratios and you risk:
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Under-baked centres & burnt edges
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Collapsed sponges (too deep, too much rise)
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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
- Diameter vs. radius: diameter is the full width; radius is half.
- Square the radius: multiply the radius by itself (e.g., 4 cm × 4 cm = 16 cm²).
- Multiply by 3.14 (π) to get the circle’s surface area.
- 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
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Cupcakes: fill liners ⅔ (≈ 55 g / ¼ cup); bake 25-40 % faster.
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Large tiers (> 25 cm / 10 in): use heating cores + baking strips
8 Worked Examples
Coming Soon Cake-Scaling Calculator
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