Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

What height should the cake be before decorating it?

It depends on the recipe you’re using. If a recipe states to use a 4″ deep cake then the cake will be almost that size. Most cake tins in the UK are 3″ deep and most cakes finish approximately at that height or slightly shorter. Again it does sometimes depend on the recipe and on the method of mixing. You can encourage the batter to rise a little further if you have the parchment lining about 2″ above the rim of the cake tin. That’s what I do and my cakes come out approximately 3″ deep. By the time you decorate you’ll have an acceptable 4″ cake which looks pretty deep.