The 12 most common mistakes made in cake baking:

1.  Failure to read the recipe in it's entirety before starting.

2.  Failure to assemble all ingredients and equipment before proceeding.

3.  Inaccurate measurement of ingredients.

4.  Failure to presift when necessary and measure flour correctly.

5.  Allowing "room-temperature" ingredients to become too warm.

6.  Improper creaming of butter and sugar

7.  Underbeating egg yolks and over beating egg whites.

8.  Improper folding.

9.  Over heating chocolate when melting.

10.  Failure to temper ingredients before combining

11.  Over mixing batters after the flour has been added

12.  Failure to match proper pan size, capacity, and material with appropriate batter.