Cake-making is one of the many tasks where organization produces a pleasant and fruitful experience. Many steps in cake preparation must be done quickly, in the correct order, and with correct timing. For instance, once the batter is ready, it must go into a preheated oven immediately. The key to proper timing is to prepare everything in advance: preheat the oven to the appropriate temperature, designate the mixing bowls and utensils for specific tasks, prepare the equipment, line or grease baking pans, and prepare and measure the ingredients. For quick reference, the steps are summarized below.

• Turn on the oven and allow enough time for it to preheat to the desired temperature (about 20 minutes if there is a baking stone in it). If you have an oven with convection heat only (with a fan blowing air) and that is not the choice mode of the recipe, set the oven temperature to about 15% lower than called for by the recipe.
• Always use eggs labeled as large in the USA or medium in Europe.
• Cold eggs are easier to separate. Separate them first; then let the egg whites warm up to room temperature. Put the mixing bowl with the egg whites into a pot of warm water and let it sit for 5-10 minutes to speed up the warming process. Keep the egg yolks covered to prevent them from forming a crust. Do not add anything to egg yolks until you are ready to use them.
• Use a large mixing bowl for egg whites (they will triple in volume when beaten) and a smaller one for egg yolks (they will approximately double in volume). As you separate the eggs, make sure there are no traces of egg yolks in the egg whites. Fat from egg yolks (or any kind of fat) prevents egg whites from foaming and expanding. The same will happen if the mixing bowl or mixing beaters are greasy. If you wish to use a plastic mixing bowl, take extra care when washing and drying it as plastic is not easy to clean from grease.
• Prepare baking pans. Line the pans with aluminum foil or parchment or wax paper or just grease and flour them. If you are making a dense chocolate or walnut cake, use aluminum foil, parchment or wax paper, otherwise it may stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Measure butter and keep it at room temperature so it softens and is easier to mix later. Do not leave butter in a sunny spot because it will melt.
• Always use unsalted butter.
• Sift flour or any powdered ingredient (cocoa powder, powdered sugar, etc...) before adding it to the batter. Measure powdered ingredients before sifting and sift before using.
• Measure all other ingredients and set them aside in little bowls or on plates.
• Double check everything.
• Prepare your mixing utensils and pots; then start the procedure.
• If the recipe calls for both beaten egg whites and beaten egg yolks, it is best to beat egg yolks first, while the egg whites are warming up, then clean the beaters and beat the egg whites. However, in case no ingredients other than sugar and flour are to be added to the batter, the procedure can be reversed.
• Pay attention to how stiff the egg whites or egg yolks should be beaten. (If unsure, read the section on beating eggs.) This is a key point for success since the most common mistakes in cake-baking come from underbeating egg yolks and overbeating egg whites.
• Once you whip air into your eggs, fold in the dry ingredients in a few batches carefully so not to deflate the batter too much (some degree of deflation is inevitable). Vigorous mixing instead of applying the technique of folding is one of the most common mistakes in cake-baking. (If unsure, read the section on folding and lightening.)
• To fold dry ingredients into batter, sift a portion into a thin layer over the entire surface of the batter, fold and repeat until you use up all of the dry ingredients. It helps to use a large or, more importantly, wide mixing bowl, because it lowers the number of repetitions. The less the batter is manipulated, the more of its precious air bubbles are preserved and the greater the volume.
• To combine two batters of different densities, first lighten the denser batter with a small quantity (usually a third) of the lighter one and only then fold the denser batter back into the lighter one. Successful folding may be completely impossible if you skip the step of lightening, which is also one of the most common mistakes in cake-baking.
• Immediately, but gently and carefully (or it may still deflate), pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake in the preheated oven. (Some batters, as meringue and biscuit without nuts, butter, or chocolate, are exceptions to this rule and can be kept on the kitchen counter for some time before being baked, as indicated in the recipes.)
• Always bake in the middle of the oven, where heat is the most uniform.
• Leave the oven door closed until the cake smells good, which is at least 3/4 of the baking time specified in the recipe. The cake may collapse if the oven temperature drops too quickly. Opening the oven door too soon is a very common mistake in cake-baking.
• Check the cake to recognize when it is done baking. (If unsure, read the section When is a cake done baking above.) If the baking time in your oven is significantly different from the one given in a recipe, similar adjustments will be required for other recipes in the book.
• Let the cake cool to room temperature before assembling or cutting layers.
• Cakes with whipped cream taste and look best if served on the same day they are made.
• Cakes that do not contain whipped cream are best when assembled a day ahead. Their taste and structure continue to develop overnight as layers soak up the moisture from the filling and the flavors blend.
• Always refrigerate a cake under a cake dome (improvise by covering your cake with a large pot).
• For better taste and structure, take the cake out of the refrigerator at least thirty minutes and, preferably, one hour (depending on the type of cake and room temperature) before serving.

Good luck, have fun, and enjoy!