I'm not sure if this is in the right forum ... But my business is growing and I can't keep making single or double batches of recipes. I have a huge event coming soon that will have approx 5,000 ppl. I have plenty of kitchen space in the commercial kitchen but I'm needing help on finding a program or software that will help me convert my recipes into larger batches. Can you give me some guidance of where I could find the right tools.

Thanks in Advance

bump ... is there anyone that can guide me in the right direction

I use a calculator. Really.

Thanks MimiFix,

That part I get that. However, multiplying the ingredients works for doubling and sometimes tripling it. But when I need to make 10x the amount of batter, then some ingredients like baking soda & baking powder etc is not multiplied the same way.

And I can't find the thread on here that showed where to find that information. I saw it over a year ago but didn't save it. And since I switched to all scratch recipes I now need that information & Google hasn't helped

There are charts available, you can Google for more. I just found http://startcooking.com/blog/333/Measurement-and-Conversion-Charts and http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001723.html

There's a conversion calculator here: http://www.infoplease.com/pages/unitconversion.html?unittype=cooking&grp=common

But it's not that hard, you probably can do it in a few minutes. Or use the low tech approach with paper and pencil. (That's what I do!) At some point you should think about converting your volume recipes to weights. In the meantime...

3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup
8 tablespoons = 1 cup

You can PM if you want me to double-check your math. Not do it for you, you need to learn, but check for accuracy. Hmmm, maybe I will use that conversion calculator I just found

Thank you for your search, I appreciate it. This information I already know and have mastered.

What I'm looking for is information the amount of baking soda, baking powder and such as that. In larger recipes you don't multiply that by 10 if you want to make 10x the batter. Since they are rising agents you don't need that large of amounts.

That's the information I'm looking for. It could make a difference in the turn out of cake, cupcakes etc.

You might want to check out this book:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0131138715/?tag=cakecentral-20

Yes! Jason this is what the post I was looking for was talking about. Thank You Thank You Thank You!

I'm going to get the book today which give me plenty of time to test out the recipes before September.

Go to abebooks.com and purchase any edition (third, fourth, fifth) of "professional Baking" by Wayne Gisslen.

The books all have the huge bakery batch formulas as well as small teaching batches of the cakes.

Thank You BakingIrene

Ya'll don't know how much I appreciate you.

platinumlady, just an FYI... my recipes all began as small batch sizes. When I moved my home-based bakery into a retail shop, I bought a 30-qt. mixer. I scaled up ingredients (used pencil and paper to calculate) and continued making my same products. At the time, I didn't know about adjustments for ingredients. My products all baked up without problems - my wholesale accounts received the same baked goods as they'd always received. I'm not a food scientist or an expert, all I know are the results I've seen after 30 years of baking.

MimiFix,

I know and I can tell your very knowledgeable I've been reading your blog and looked at your FB page.

I just didn't word my question right. Sometimes it's hard to put words to what I'm actually thinking. Sometimes the nerd in me cripples me in day to day life. As I stated I appreciate the research you posted.

I love cake central business forum. I don't come here as often as I used to but I know when I do I always get great advice.

you can do this in excel.

ingredient| Measure | Amount | Batch # | Conversion amount
flour | Cups | 1.75 | 3 | = C3xD3 (this is your formula), copy it down to the other rows
~The resulting amount may need to be interpreted but the calculation will be correct (example, resulting amount could be 9 tsp, but you would have to make note that that is 3 TBS).
~After you have filled out columns a, b, c, and placed a formula in column e, you would simply change the value in column d to see how many batches you need.
I can post a picture later if it will help you out.

Rose Levy Beranbaum explains the proportions of leavening/rising agents and other ingredients when scaling recipes in 'The Cake Bible'. She also gives scaled measurements to use and various recipes.

Thank you I've been hearing some whispers about "The Cake Bible" I think it's time for me to see what it's all about


I appreciate you all

I use Food Network Recipe Manager. It lets you scale any of your recipes. With the smaller batches of cakes, I measured out the amounts of batter the original recipe got me and then with my Excel chart of how much batter I need for each pan, I can up my servings and the program does all the ingredient calculations for me.

the biggest annoyance was getting all my recipes into the program in the first place.