Always grease the pan and line with parchment
It’s insurance that your cake will slide out cleanly after cooling.
Allow the oven to fully preheat first
The cakes needs to bake at the right temperature, no shortcuts.
Bake in the centre of the oven (unless otherwise specified)
If it doesn’t specify otherwise, that’s how the recipe was designed. Changes will alter your results.
Bake in the size of pan specified
Otherwise you’re looking at uneven baking, which means an uneven cake.
Don’t try to double the recipe
Cake recipes are more complex than that. Source out a recipe for a larger volume instead.
Use fresh ingredients
Old ingredients taste bad, and old leaveners (like baking soda) simply don’t work.
No substitutions
With the exception of spices, don’t substitute ingredients. Especially ones that have structural impact.