This is one of those questions I get asked a lot…. or rather “How much ingredients do I need for my teddy bear / football shirt/ sphere size cake tin?” (please enter any obscure measurement or shape tin in here!) and I reply with the same answer each time…

“If you can measure the volume of water your cake tin can hold I can work it out for you”

The volume of a cake tin.

I use a formula that is calculated from the volume of a recipe and then I calculate up or down from there. The original cake is my base line. Mine is a 6″ Madeira cake for which the cake tin holds 1200ml of water. Once I know what the volume of the odd shaped tin is I can calculate the ingredients. I learnt how to do this from Ruth Clemens on The Pink Whisk. It’s very number-y. You can see how to do that in this post or check out Ruth’s post here. It took me a while to work it out – especially when the calculation said 1 ½ eggs. I mean how do you get half an egg? (Actually I know the answer to that. You weigh it and use half!)

I’ve been asked so many times that I thought I better show you how I measure the volume of a cake tin.

The first step is to line your tin if it has a loose bottom. I use bin bags – the ones with no holes in!
Then I add 1 litre at a time till I am 1-2cm from the top of the cake tin.
Write it down or do a tally chart as you go so you don’t loose count. When in doubt go less water than more. I have found that less cake mix results in a taller, lighter cake.
Tip out the water and check the volume against this chart below.
If you need the steps on how to make the madeira cake check out this post

It’s that simple.