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Scaling cake recipes up and down

OK, I have searched but couldn't come up with anything.

I need to make a cake for my in-laws Pearl Wedding Anniversary. I've found the cake I want to make. 2 tiers; 1 is lemon and the other is chocolate.

Right my question is this...... the recipe for the lemon cake is for a 9 inch tin, but I want to scale it down to a 6 inch tin, and the chocolate cake is for a 12 inch tin and I want to scale it down to an 8 inch tin. My theory is cutting down the ingredients by a third and watching it closely whilst cooking :confused: Does this sound like it my work? If not, any ideas/tips/conversion sites readily welcomed.

Thank you domestic goddesses :A
Squares knitted for my throw ~ 90 (yes!!! I have finally finished it :rotfl: )
Squares made for my patchwork quilt ~ 80 (only the "actual" quilting to do now :rotfl:)
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Comments

  • thriftlady_2
    thriftlady_2 Posts: 9,128
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    I think that might work ;)

    I'd be inclined to make the whole amount of mixtures up and pour some into your desired cake tins and the rest in other tins (or maybe one big tin and make a chocolate-lemon marble cake?) then eat the extra yourself -or freeze it. That's obviously the most expensive route -but you can't have to much cake can you :D
  • Rikki
    Rikki Posts: 21,625 Forumite
    thriftlady wrote: »
    I think that might work ;)

    I'd be inclined to make the whole amount of mixtures up and pour some into your desired cake tins and the rest in other tins (or maybe one big tin and make a chocolate-lemon marble cake?) then eat the extra yourself -or freeze it. That's obviously the most expensive route -but you can't have to much cake can you :D

    What a fab idea. You get to sample the cakes. :T
    £2 Coins Savings Club 2012 is £4 :).............................NCFC member No: 00005.........

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  • Thanks - I'll try that :D I'll post some piccies when they're made (next week).
    Squares knitted for my throw ~ 90 (yes!!! I have finally finished it :rotfl: )
    Squares made for my patchwork quilt ~ 80 (only the "actual" quilting to do now :rotfl:)
  • Well today is the day I am making the cakes :eek: I'm thinking of reducing the cooking time by a third - but keeping a close eye ;) Hope that works. I will be decorating them tomorrow, and I'll be assembling them on Saturday, will post some piccies when they are complete.
    Squares knitted for my throw ~ 90 (yes!!! I have finally finished it :rotfl: )
    Squares made for my patchwork quilt ~ 80 (only the "actual" quilting to do now :rotfl:)
  • OK stressed out mum of one.

    This is a Maths question. This does not mean Panic!

    We will work out the volume of cake mixture in the 9 inch (21.5cm) tin.

    The risky bit is estimating how deep the cake would have been in the 21.5cm tin. I'm going to assume that it is approximately 5cm deep.

    So the volume of the cake mixture in the 21.5cm tin is
    The area of the base (the circle where you put your greaseproof paper) x by the height of the cake.

    e.g Area of the base = 3.142 x (10.75x10.75)
  • area of base = 3.142 x (10.75 x10.75)
    = 3.142 x115.5
    =363.1

    if the cake is 5cm high (assumption) then the volume of cake mixture in the 9 inch tin is

    363.1 x 5 = 1815.5 cm3 of cake mixture in the 9 inch tin


    Now for the 6 inch (15cm) tin.
    The base area = 3.142 x (7.5x7.5)
    =176.7cm2

    Assuming the height of the cake is still 5cm.
    The volume of mix in a 6inch tin will be
    = 176.7 x5
    = 882.5 cm3

    So a 9inch tin takes a cake mix of volume 1815.5cm3

    A 6 inch tin takes a cake mix of volume 882.5cm3


    So APPROXIMATELY a 6 inch cake tin will take half the mixture of a 9 inch cake tin.:rotfl: So you can halve the recipe.

    Are you confused? Trust me it is correct. I have done this before on an Open university maths course. If you go down cake tin sizes it does not work like you think. Going from 9inches to 6inches will half the amount of cake mixture you need.

    If you don't believe me go to the tap, get a jug of water and fill some cake tins and see how much liquid they will hold. You may be in for a suprise.
    You should find the 9 inch cake tin holds twice as much water as the 6inch cake tin.

    I hope this helps you sort out your dilemma.

    Apologies to mathmeticians. I'm not one really and I couldn't find all the symbols on the chat room to put in the 'correct' maths:p .
  • thriftlady_2
    thriftlady_2 Posts: 9,128
    Combo Breaker First Post I've been Money Tipped!
    Forumite


    Apologies to mathmeticians. I'm not one really and I couldn't find all the symbols on the chat room to put in the 'correct' maths:p .

    Go to character map ;) Click start, then all programmes, then accessories (the top one) and character map is at the bottom. It has all those mathematical symbols plus loads of accents, Greek letters, arabic etc -it even has one of these ۞
  • OK, so now I'm confused :confused: Do I halve the recipe or do I reduce it by a third :confused: I think I'm going to try out the water and see :D
    Squares knitted for my throw ~ 90 (yes!!! I have finally finished it :rotfl: )
    Squares made for my patchwork quilt ~ 80 (only the "actual" quilting to do now :rotfl:)
  • ok stressed mum of one. I'm definitely not a maths teacher!

    9 inch tin takes 1815 cm3 mixture

    6 inch tin takes 882cm3 of mixture ( twice this amount is 1764 cm3)


    So the nine inch tin take approximately twice as much mixture as the 6 inch tin.

    So if your recipe is for the nine inch tin, halve the ingredients list to make the mixture for the 6 inch tin.

    Try the water trick too. It will put your mind at rest.

    Happy cooking:D
  • Penelope_Penguin
    Penelope_Penguin Posts: 17,288
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker I've been Money Tipped!
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    OK, so now I'm confused :confused: Do I halve the recipe or do I reduce it by a third :confused: I think I'm going to try out the water and see :D

    Right my question is this...... the recipe for the lemon cake is for a 9 inch tin round or square?, but I want to scale it down to a 6 inch tin round or square?, and the chocolate cake is for a 12 inch tin again? and I want to scale it down to an 8 inch tin ?????. My theory is cutting down the ingredients by a third and watching it closely whilst cooking :confused: Does this sound like it my work? If not, any ideas/tips/conversion sites readily welcomed.

    Let me know thw above and I'll do the maths for you :D

    Penny. x
    :rudolf: Sheep, pigs, hens and bees on our Teesdale smallholding :rudolf:
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