British Girl Bakes Logo
Free Cake Decorating MasterCourse | British Girl Bakes
Free MasterCourse
British Girl Bakes Logo
Free Cake Decorating MasterCourse | British Girl Bakes

10 Tips for your First Cake

If you’re about to make your first cake, there’s a lot to think about! With these 10 tips I hope to make the process easier and more enjoyable.

If you prefer to watch a video of this tutorial, scroll to the bottom of the page.

#1 Divide your batter

After following whichever recipe you choose, spray your pans with non-stick spray. Only fill your pans half full to leave space for them to rise as they bake. You definitely don't want them to overflow and make a mess on the floor of your oven! This might mean using two or three or four pans. If you only have one or two pans you can bake the cakes one at a time. 

divide cake batter to fill pans half full 10 Tips for your First Cake

#2 Leave to rest

After baking your first cake, leave the pans for ten minutes before you turn the cakes out. Straight out of the oven, the cakes are very fragile but ten minutes gives them a chance to firm up.

bake cake layers with pans half full 10 Tips for your First Cake

You can slide a spatula or knife around the pan to loosen the edges of the cakes. When the pans are just cool enough to touch, flip the pans over onto a cooling rack. The cakes will slide out easily without crumbling or cracking.

loosen cakes from pan with spatula before turning out 10 Tips for your First Cake

#3 Let layers cool

Your cake layers need to cool completely before you use them, which takes an hour or two. Even when they feel cool on the outside, heat is still slowly being released from the middle. That heat can melt buttercream if you try to frost them too soon.

let cakes sit 10 minutes after baking and taking out of oven 10 Tips for your First Cake

While the cakes are cooling, prepare your filling and frosting. My favourite is my 4 Minute Buttercream, which is easy to make, delicious, stores well, and can take on hundreds of flavours.

make filling and frosting while cake layers cool 10 Tips for your First Cake

#4 Prepare your cake layers

When your layers are cool, it's time to prepare them. This means shaping them by trimming off any domed tops with a serrated bread knife. This will make the cake layers flat so that they stack neatly on top of each other. Uneven \layers can cause cakes to lean to one side so don't skip this step!

trim cake layers to level 10 Tips for your First Cake

If you want to create more layers, cut each layer in half horizontally. Now instead of two layers you’ll have four!

divide cake layers in half with serrated knife 10 Tips for your First Cake

If you like you can drizzle them with simple syrup, which will keep them moist for several days. Simple syrup is made with equal parts of water and sugar, for example half a cup of each. Bring them to a simmer until the sugar dissolves and then let the syrup cool. You can drizzle the syrup with a squeezy bottle or brush it with a pastry brush. Pay special attention to the edges of the cakes, which will dry out fastest so they’re the most important to keep moist.

drizzle cake layers with simple syrup 10 Tips for your First Cake

#5 Choose a cake board 

Before assembling your first cake you need to choose a board to assemble it on. This needs to be flat so that you can use a frosting scraper to smooth the frosting all the way down to the bottom of the sides. Choose a board at least two inches bigger than your cake to leave room for frosting and decorations. This extra room will also give you something to grip onto when you lift it up to move it. Find a board with a greaseproof surface so that the butter in the buttercream doesn’t stain it.

choose a cake board 10 Tips for your First Cake

#6 Dot and chill

Pipe or spread a dot of buttercream onto the middle of your board and this will act as glue.

spread or pipe buttercream onto middle of cake board to attach cake 10 Tips for your First Cake

Press your first cake layer down onto the dot and center it on the board. You’ll be able to adjust it now, before the dot of buttercream sets.

center cake layer on cake board 10 Tips for your First Cake

Then spread or pipe your filling. Line up the next layer of cake so that it’s directly on top of the layer below, which will give you straight sides. Continue alternating cake and filling. Then, once it's assembled, don't first it yet! Chill it in the freezer for 30 minutes or in the fridge for an hour. The fridge will set the dot of buttercream on the board and that will hold the cake in place so it doesn’t slide around when you frost it.

assemble cake by layering cake and filling 10 Tips for your First Cake

#7 Crumb coat (do it!)

You might have heard of crumb coats and I’ll show you what that is now. Don’t skip the crumb coat on your first cake - or any cake! It’s a very thin layer of frosting that completely covers the cake from the very bottom to the very top. As you can guess from the name, it traps any crumbs that come off while you're frosting.

apply a crumb coat 10 Tips for your First Cake

There won’t be as many crumbs if you chilled your cake after assembling it because cold cakes are firmer and less crumbly than room temperature cakes.

spread frosting onto cake for crumb coat 10 Tips for your First Cake

Smooth the frosting with a cake scraper and this is where the next tip comes in:

#8 Use two bowls!

Your batch of buttercream will be in one bowl and you'll need a small empty bowl, too. As you pull your cake scraper away from the cake, scrape that excess buttercream off into the small bowl.

apply and smooth a crumb coat 10 Tips for your First Cake

This bowl is essential because the buttercream that you scrape off the cake will have crumbs in it. If you put it into your main bowl of frosting, you'll get those crumbs into the rest of it. Then you’ll use that crumby buttercream for your final coat of frosting, which will have those crumbs in it.

Your crumb coat doesn’t have to be perfect because it’s going to be covered up next.

#9 The final coat

Frosting your first cake can be a struggle so I hope this section will be useful! For the final coat I have several tips so I’ll combine them all into this ninth tip:

tint buttercream for final coat of frosting 10 Tips for your First Cake
  • Use a lot of buttercream to create straight sides
smoothing the frosting on top of cake 10 Tips for your First Cake
  • Spread it above top edge of the cake to create sharp angles and flat top of the cake
spread buttercream thickly onto cake for straight sides and smooth frosting 10 Tips for your First Cake
  • Rest the base of the frosting smoother down on the board. This lines it up straight against the side of the cake
smoothing the frosting on cake 10 Tips for your First Cake
  • For the top edge, wipe your offset spatula clean after each swipe to create neat edges around the cake.
using a cake scraper to smooth frosting on cake 10 Tips for your First Cake

I know that was a lot of information! If you’re looking for more details, check out my tutorial on 7 Secrets for Smooth Frosting.

#10 Store and serve

Now that your cake is beautifully frosted you can decorate it or leave it simple. Store it in fridge until 2-4 hours before serving. The coldness prevent bulges in the sides of the cake and drooping of any decorations. After 2-4 hours on the counter it will come to room temperature. Now the cake and frosting will be soft and delicious!

how to frost a cake 10 Tips for your First Cake

If you have any questions about making your first (or hundredth!) cake, ask me in the comments! For hundreds of cake designs and decorating techniques, join my All You Can Cake membership for access to ALL of my online courses as well as live classes and Q&A sessions for members only!

piping swirls onto a cake 10 Tips for your First Cake

Here’s the video version of this tutorial:

subscribe now

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

British Girl Bakes Logo
© Copyright 2025 • British Girl Bakes - All Rights Reserved