I see requests on this forum every day for specific amounts of batter, icing, etc to use. Also questions about how to divide recipes.

It scares me speechless. It's so easy to make a mistake typing amounts, and if somebody then goes and follows that mistaken number, they are going to have a problem. Waste money, or run short, or the cake falls, or...you name it. Disaster comes in all sizes and shapes.

Please people--if you can't do such simple arithmetic, then you have no right to be taking somebody else's money for a cake. You should write down the information of how many cups of batter each cake recipe makes. Yes that means YOU measure the batter when you mix the cake (either in testing the recipe or once when you know it's a good recipe). Then you can use the posted tables to fill larger pans.

Or you do everything by weight. But you still have to divide and multiply weights to get the total ingredient list for a given cake project. And you still have to do this arithmetic correctly for the different pans.

And NO you don't just assume that somebody else has written the correct cups per recipe. NO you don't just download a recipe and bake a huge cake with it. NO people don't all use the same amounts of icing for the same sized cake...That should be commonsense.

If you want a small batch for samples, bake exactly the same recipe as your real cakes will be. Use some practical ingredient to do your arithmetic--divide the recipe:say by the number of eggs? Or just use a bunch of small pans...I mean, you will sometimes divide a large batch into several pans anyway, right? FYI You have a legal obligation to divide them into equal portions by weight for sale.

DO NOT USE A DIFFERENT RECIPE FOR SAMPLES THAN FOR YOUR SALE GOODS. Because that misrepresents your product and your business.

Well at least your are honest and those who haven't started will take your smart advice. When I 1st saw a recipe that had " yield : x cups batter" or CC members saying they got x cups from a specific recipe I thought "wow, that is new. This must be how they do it abroad. I better start doing this too". I was never taught in baking school or by my baking teacher about measuring and weighing batter. We were taught to eye-ball dividing batter between pans. I remember the 1st time I measured my yellow cake recipe by cups and then divided equally between pans. I actually got 2 same sized cakes. Normally one was higher than the other because I was eye-balling it as I was told to do. Measuring my batter really helped when scaling up recipes. I used to under-estimate how much batter I needed everytime for a cake. As for the icing, would it be too much to say "the Wilton BC recipe with xyz ingredients in xyz measurements will give 3 cups". It will help starters get off the ground but I know...u don't want to spoon-feed right through right?

I don't want to make a mistake that will cost somebody else some money or a lot of grief.

The good recipes all say how much batter they make. The professional baking texts are the best because everything is by weight and you just scale it into the pans according to the published tables.

The Wilton icing recipes do say "makes xx cups" and they turn out for me pretty close to what they say. So you can use the Wilton table that people post links to every day for estimating the batches.

I am also trying to say that the foodservice mindset is priceless. in terms of not wasting ingredients and therefore making a profit.

Yes you're right about the foodserving mindset. Trust me. I have been there and was there for a long time till I saw all these posts on CC about batter yields by cup. Sometimes I would mix more batter than was needed. Sometimes I would under-mix. Either way I lost money. Lost $ cuz when I underestimated I had to go back on the road and by more ingredients (in those days I was buying from the grocery and not wholesale cuz I had fewer orders. If I over-estimated I had more cake than was needed. Lost $ again) and I ahte to lose $. To be honest Irene, I think it was just laziness on my part in the earlies of running my business to not measure out my batters and make notes. I have learned since. Makes it easier now to cost cakes and faster and I don't lose $

Wow. What brought on this tirade? I feel like I've been reprimanded, and I was just looking around the site! OP, you sound very angry. Why not let everyone worry about their own business? Just saying.

What does OP mean?

Pearl, it refers to the original post or poster.

^^ yes well said. *trods back to kitchen with fire extinguisher*

I think it is very good advice. Sometimes people just don't get it unless you are blunt. Irene was not being rude, just honest and to the point.

BakingIrene was tring to stress the need for some simple math needed to be in business. We talk about business plans and accounting systems, but many bakers do not have the math skills needed to bake as a business.

Fractions, ratios, conversions from cups to oz's and grams, pi(r)squared to convert pan sizes.... the one you really need to adjust recipes, are just a few skills needed in the kitchen.

Some resort to programs, but taking the time to learn the math is a skill just as essential for growth of a business. You can only go so far with guessing and if you need a program, you will not know the fundamentals of the measurements and how they relate to COGS.

There will also be a lack of understanding about how your profits relate to your costs.

We should probably start some threads on the math behind baking. Anyone interested or having a problem, there are at least a few here that are willing to help.

I hear u Irene. Loud and clear. Our backgrounds are different. Some are used to buying a cake mix box which tells them how much cake will come out. Others know how to experiment, calculate and measure. It's scary that one takes a wedding order without knowing the calculations involved! What if.......? I shudder! Also if everyone minded their own business we wdnt come here. I, for one, choose to ignore some things if they get to me.

I would like that..a thread on the maths behind baking. All my recipes are in cups and oz. None in grams. I have a problem finding credible and consistent sources that can tell me 1 cup of x = y grams. I know weighing is better but every website and baking book I check is telling me different conversions of basic ingredients like flour, sugar and cocoa powder from cups to grams. Always off by a few grams with each website. Anyone has serious info on this..it would really help if you could guide me to a reliable source. Not sure if this is off topic but it came to mind and I would like the help. There might be others out there who want the help too?

Geez, I'm blown away by the storm my comment caused. I'm really a nice person and never meant to insult anyone. I guess I was trying to say, if you don't want to "help" people who ask elementary questions, and even if they annoy you, just don't answer, but also none of us really need to "fuss at" the person. I'm genuinely sorry if I offended or hurt feelings. I appreciate all of you and the help you've given me many times. Forgive?

I found the site www.joyofbaking.com very helpful. Chapter 'ingredients' (for conversions for a specific ingredient) as well as 'conversions' .[/quote]

Great! Thanks! I tried weighing each cup to get the grams conversion but every time it was always a bit off.

Pearl, you are right about discrepancies.

Fortunately, I choose mentors who give weights, but that doesn't help on those that don't have weights or when we make up our own versions.

Here is what I do: A long time ago, my first scale had a book of conversions. I used it for years and long before the bakery inception. Later, I found that my book of conversions is not the most popular, but, it works for me. My adjustments are all good.

For example, a chart that overweighs flour usually overweighs sugar too. For example, my chart is for flour 5 oz and sugar 7 oz, both slightly higher than soemchefs use. But the ratios work. My suggestion is to find a reputable chart and stick to it forever and build your recipes around it. If you have a recipe that gives weights, use theirs.

Another huge help... put in the correct amount of ounces and then hit the gram button. Note the grams. This is better when dividing and multiplying batters. For example in my rugelach cookies, it gives the amount that must be later divides into four. I weighed each component and then changed to grams. Now I have four cups I fill with the filling ingredients, now perfectly equal in cinnamon, sugars, pecans and cranberries.