Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

I have been told that to be able to get a deeper overall cake to decorate it is better to make 2 cakes. Is this correct? It would make the basic cost of the cake quite expensive so not leaving much room for profit.

Hi Julie
I don’t make 2 cakes when I’m decorating cakes I only use the 1 and they have always been deep enough. Is there any chance who said that may have meant make 2 if they are sandwich layers which are then put together? I usually always make the 1 then slice it and fill it but I know some people prefer to make the 2 layers separately if that makes sense.

Hi julieb1

If you make one deep cake it can be cut either into two or three, when filled the cake will be deep. Mrs Jones, in her vanilla cake tutorial http://www.cakeflix.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/mrs-joness-recipe-for-10-round-deep-sponge-cake makes two deep cakes from her one recipe but that’s because she wanted to bake an extra tall cake. Sometimes with very big recipes, especially for square cakes it’s better to split the recipe and bake two separate layers from the one recipe to ensure thorough baking. Square cakes have a habit of burning on the corners before the center gets cooked. It doesn’t mean you have to use double quantities which as you say would make for a very expensive cake. Hope this helps.

Thanks for your answers. Do you mean that you would make an 8″ cake and scale it up to a 9″ or 10″ recipe (using two tins to cook it in)??

If you scale an 8″ recipe up to 9″ or 10″ or any larger size it must be baked in a tin for the scaled up recipe. So if you scale an 8″ recipe to 10″, the batter must be poured into either 1 deep 10″ tin, baked and then layered into 2 or 3 or you can bake the mixture in two 10″ sandwich tins. This applies to any size. Hope this is clearer.

Thanks madeitwithlove. I understand what you are saying. But I still don’t understand how I can achieve a deep sponge ( am I being dull?) For a basic vanilla sponge I use either Delia Smith or Peggy Porchen’s recipe which are too shallow, the total height of the cake is approx 4 inches.

If I want a deeper 8″ cake I use the quantities for a 9″ tin and bake it for a bit longer (in the 8″ tin). The only limiting factor is the depth of the tin!