The things we got wrong
This page is a log of the mistakes we made—what didn’t work, what we fixed, and who did it. It’s the opposite of a ‘best of’ list: here, you’ll find the things we got wrong first, before we got them right.
The only reason to publish a page like this is to prove we’re still paying attention. If we stopped correcting our work, we’d stop doing it at all.
Three we had to fix
These are the three biggest mistakes we caught early enough to fix. The rest are still out there, waiting to be found.
How we fixed what we got wrong
- 1Wrong oven temp on key recipes
The first 12 recipes we published all called for preheating the oven to 350°F (175°C). That’s what the original source said, but our test bakes kept undercooking. It turned out the real issue was our oven running 25°F cooler than the display—something we only noticed when a reader emailed us photos of their dense, gummy brownies. We rewrote every recipe with adjusted temps and added a note about calibration. Fixed by Sonia Beaudry.
- 2Mismatched ingredient measurements
Our ‘easy vanilla cake’ used grams for flour but cups for butter, which confused readers who weren’t converting back and forth. It stood for two months before a commenter pointed out the inconsistency. We standardized everything to grams with cup equivalents in brackets and added a conversion guide. Fixed by Sonia Beaudry.
- 3Broken link to a tutorial video
The ‘how to pipe swirls’ guide linked to a YouTube video that had been deleted. We didn’t notice until someone asked why the steps didn’t match. We replaced it with a direct screenshot tutorial and added a note about checking video links before publishing. Fixed by Sonia Beaudry.
What those three changed
These mistakes taught us three things: never trust a source without testing, measure twice, and assume every link will break. The fixes weren’t just corrections—they became our new rules.
Rules that came from mistakes
- 1. Test every recipe three times (from the oven temp error).
- 2. Use one unit system per site (from the measurement mismatch).
- 3. Verify all external links before publishing (from the broken video).
The people behind this
This is Sonia Beaudry, the founder and editor of *Cake Recipes Tin*. She’s the one who wrote the recipes, burned the batches, and now keeps this log of what didn’t work. The fact that she’s listing her own mistakes is the only proof you need that she’s still here.
People who keep logs like this don’t do it for pride. They do it because they know the next reader might spot something they missed—and that’s the only way to stay sharp. It’s uncomfortable, but it works.
Sonia once ruined a batch of cookies by forgetting the baking soda. She ate them anyway, salted caramel and all, and decided that was the real test of a recipe: whether it’s worth eating even when it’s wrong.
If you find something we missed, there’s only one thing to do: tell us. The contact page is where to start.
There will be a next one
This list isn’t finished. We’ll add to it whenever we find another mistake—or when you do. If you spot something that doesn’t add up, the contact page is the place to say so. No email needed.
The recipes are grouped by category: Appetizers, Beverages, Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Main Courses and Reviews.