How to halve a cake recipe?
An entire cake is too much food (and temptation!) for me and my husband. Generally speaking, how do I halve a cake recipe? I have heard you can't just cut everything in half due to the way baking powder & soda react.
A particular recipe I would like to cut in half is Red Velvet Cake.
(I would then just put all the batter into one cake pan instead of 2.)
Best Answer
I have halved cake recipes before without issue. The most complicated thing to worry about is halving an odd number of eggs, but this question addresses that. The finished product was indistinguishable from the full recipe.
Edit
One thing to note. In your specific case, because it's a two-layer cake, halving is simple because you're only cooking a single layer. Halving other cakes, such as a pound cake, or a bundt cake involves adjustments to the cooking time. A halved cake will cook much quicker, and could possibly need a lower temperature as well as a decreased cooking time.
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How do you halve a cake mix?
To measure out half, place a medium bowl on your scale and zero it out. Pour the mix into the bowl until it measures 7.62 ounces. A cake mix that weighs 15.25 ounces has 3\u2153 cups of mix total. So half a box of standard cake mix is 1\u2154 cups.Is it okay to half baking recipes?
You can, in fact, still make a great baked good at half the size. Here's a mini-primer on how to accurately downsize baking recipes.Does halving a recipe work?
For baking (cakes, pies, breads, etc), the recipe times will be cut by more than half\u2014it will be two-thirds to three-quarters of the original time. If a cake takes an hour to bake, cook it for 20 minutes and than check to see if it needs a few more extra minutes, while monitoring it closely.How do I half a recipe with 3 eggs?
Only Divide the Odd Egg If a recipe calls for 3 eggs and you want to divide the recipe by 1/2, you'll need 1 1/2 eggs. The "one" part is easy\u2014it's right there at your fingertips. The 1/2 egg can be measured out by whisking another egg and using only 1/2 of it, or by using 2 tablespoons.How to Level and Torte a Cake | Wilton
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Answer 2
I halve cake recipes quite often and just round up the number of eggs. So if the full recipe calls for 3 eggs, instead of trying to figure out 1 and 1/2 I put in 2. So far, so good.
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