Cakes and Cupcakes, Kept Straight
A cake is usually two recipes pretending to be one: the cake and the frosting. They are often on the same page but they scale separately and they are needed at different moments.
Cakes are also occasion-driven, which means you look for them once a year and have to find them fast.
12 recipes to start from
Each one opens as a recipe page here, with the ingredients and timings, and credits the creator who published it.
01
Carrot Cake Bites
andianne.com · 20 min · makes 24
Made with shredded carrots, dates and unsweetened shredded coconut. 20 min, makes 24, 10 ingredients.
02
Classic Devils Food Cake
andianne.com · 45 min · makes 12
Made with buttermilk and baker's chocolate. 45 min, makes 12, 18 ingredients.
03
High Protein Birthday Cake Dip
caileeeats.com · 10 min · makes 1
Made with container of oikos vanilla yogurt, heaping scoop of cool whip and sugar-free vanilla pudding mix. 10 min, makes 1, 6 ingredients.
04
Lemon Cake
cakemehometonight.com · 2h 55m · makes 14
Made with cream cheese. 2h 55m, makes 14, 17 ingredients.
05
Yellow Cake
cakemehometonight.com · 3h 5m · makes 12
Made with buttermilk, semisweet chocolate chips and heavy cream. 3h 5m, makes 12, 18 ingredients.
06
Sourdough Chocolate Cake
countryroadssourdough.com · 47 min · makes 16
Made with sourdough discard. 47 min, makes 16, 16 ingredients.
07
Sourdough Tres Leches Cake
countryroadssourdough.com · 13h 5m · makes 9
Made with sourdough discard, heavy whipping cream and cinnamon for topping. 13h 5m, makes 9, 17 ingredients.
08
Chocolate Protein Cake
eatwithclarity.com · 38 min · makes 12
Made with maple syrup and greek yogurt. 38 min, makes 12, 18 ingredients.
09
Gluten Free Lemon Cake
eatwithclarity.com · 55 min · makes 16
Store-cupboard ingredients only. 55 min, makes 16, 18 ingredients.
10
Beach Cupcakes
funmoneymom.com · 35 min · makes 24
Made with box white cake mix, blue gel food coloring and nilla wafers. 35 min, makes 24, 12 ingredients.
11
Mini Berry Cake
funmoneymom.com · 50 min · makes 2
Made with box cake mix, frosting and raspberries. 50 min, makes 2, 7 ingredients.
12
GLUTEN-FREE STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE CAKE
jenneatsgoood.com · 1h 10m · makes 6
Made with maple syrup, heaping quartered strawberries and plant-based cream of choice. 1h 10m, makes 6, 12 ingredients.
What makes cakes different to organise
- The frosting is its own recipe. Note which one you actually used, because most people mix and match across sources.
- Pan size and layer count decide the bake time and the yield. A recipe written for two 8-inch tins is not the same cake in a 9x13.
- Room-temperature ingredients are specified for a reason in this category more than any other, and it is the instruction most often skipped.
- You make these for occasions, so a tag for whose birthday it was will find it faster than the dish name will.
How to build it
- Save the cake and note the frosting you paired with it, even when they came from different places.
- Record the tins you used and how many layers you got.
- Tag by occasion. Next year that is how you will search.
- Keep the published yield so scaling up for a crowd is deliberate arithmetic.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a different tin from the one in the recipe?
Yes, but the bake time changes with the depth of the batter. Save the tin you used next to the time that worked, since that is the pairing you will want to repeat.
How do I keep a frosting with the right cake?
Note it on the saved cake recipe. Most people pair a frosting from one source with a cake from another, and that combination is the thing worth keeping.