Kit Baking FAQ's

All cakes are super easy to make, the main things to remember when making it are: -preheat your oven! -don’t mix the batter too much (especially if you are using an electric mixer) -make sure your cake is properly cool before you ice it

Using an 8” pan is really important, otherwise your cake might be too tall and be difficult to cook through, or too flat and resemble a pancake. We've sourced a cake pan, which is the perfect dimensions and thickness to ensure your cake bakes perfectly so be sure to add it to your cart before you check out.

Always use a light, neutral tasting oil in your cakes such as canola, sunflower, rice bran or grapeseed.

With most cakes we would recommend using unsalted butter, as there is already salt in the cake mix. In saying this, salted butter will work fine if that is all you have at home and salted butter goes great with chocolate.

Feel free to use any unsweetened milk you like! Some dairy free alternatives that work well are nut milks, oat milk and soy milk. Coconut milk can also be used, but is very high in fat (which can affect the cake), I would suggest combining equal parts coconut milk and water and then measuring for your recipe.

Your batter should be thick as opposed to runny.

When incorporating your wet and dry ingredients together be sure to use a gentle folding motion and stop as soon as your cake batter has come together. Any stirring after this point would be classed as overmixing. Overmixing your cake develops the gluten in your batter, giving it an unpleasant, doughy mouth feel.

Your glaze should be thick yet soft enough to spread. If your glaze is not spreadable, you can add extra liquid ¼ tsp at a time until the desired consistency is achieved. If your glaze is too runny, you can add extra icing sugar 1 tsp at a time until the desired consistency is achieved.

Your cake is ready when a sharp knife or skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. The reason I recommend checking cakes regularly after the halfway point is that you want to catch the cake at the moment it is baked to perfection, especially considering a cake will continue to cook for a few minutes after it has been removed from the oven. Your cake should rise slightly and have a flat, matte surface.

Your cake should be tender, dense and bordering on brownie-like. Our cakes all have a sumptuous, close-crumb texture due to the high amount of ground almonds in the recipe!

Generally you can also make about 8 minicakes or about 30 babycakes with these kits. If doing this, reduce the bake time to 20-25 minutes depending on size.

1. Prepare your cake batter according to the recipe card provided.
2. Line a mini or babycake tray with enough cupcake papers for either size (babycakes are around 3.5cm diameter on their base, minicakes are around 6cm in diameter).
3. Fill each cupcake paper with your cake batter using a teaspoon. For babycakes make sure each paper is filled about 1-2mm below the top line, for minicakes, fill the papers about ⅔ full.
4. Bake for around 20-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Every oven is different, so you may need to bake your babycakes for a shorter or longer time - keep an eye on them as they bake!
5. Allow your cupcakes to cool for 10 minutes in their tray, then take each out to cool on a cooling rack.
6. Leave to cool completely before icing.

Because the rate of evaporation is faster at high altitude, cakes often require more liquid and longer bake times so you should favor an overpour instead of an underpour of all liquid ingredients and don't be alarmed if your cake takes longer than the prescribed bake time. Also, the lighter air at high altitude allows cake batter to expand more and faster, often making it necessary to increase the oven temperature by 25° and to use a larger baking pan if you have one.

To make a mini 3-tiered cake with my cake kits, you’ll need two cake kits in your chosen flavour, a big bowl for all the batter as well as 1x 8”, 1x 6” and 1x 4” cake tins.

To make your mini 3-tiered cake you will be using two Caker cake kits and simply doubling the wet ingredients instructed. 1 cup of milk per the instructions becomes 2 cups of milk, ½ a cup of oil becomes 1 cup and so on.

SOME HANDY TIPS

Don’t forget to preheat the oven (180C/350F), this is such an important step.

For the largest pan, you need to use one of the parchment paper circles from the kits, the other two are provided with the pans (if you haven’t purchased my Mini Tiered Cake Bundle you will need to cut your own - trimming one from your second kit is nice and easy).

Prepare your batters in a single bowl according to the recipe card, remembering to use double the wet ingredients stated.

Once the cake batter is ready, the most important thing to get right is the amount of batter per pan such that all the cakes will come out with proportional heights. You want about 1”/2.5cm of batter in the 2 larger pans and ½”/just over 1cm in the smallest pan (add your fruit last if your kit requires it). If you add too much batter, just take some out with a spoon.

When the cakes go into the oven, set a timer for 20 minutes because that’s around the time that the 4” cake will be done. At 30 minutes the 6” cake should be done. At 45-50 minutes the 8” cake should be done.

If you want to make a buttercream, take both glaze sachets and use an electric mixer to combine them with 300g butter (regular or vegan) until super light, fluffy and smooth. If you’re making a Flourless Dark Chocolate tiered cake, use our ganache recipe.

When assembling the cake, apply about half of the glaze/buttercream/ganache onto the centre of the largest cake and work your way slowly to the edges. I like to spin the cake at the same time as I spread the glaze/buttercream, but just do whatever feels comfortable. Make sure the middle layer is nice and centered before applying the glaze/buttercream - you’ll want to use just over half of what’s left for this layer, and the rest on the third layer.

You won’t need all of the freeze-dried fruit decorations, so use what’s left for another occasion! Add Fresh Flowers for an extra CAKER touch if desired.