What if you dont have an electric mixer, if a recipe says to mix on medium speed for 30 seconds, how many strokes is that by hand? Is there only one type of consistency for hte batter or do different cakes have different types of batters?
How long is the oven supposed to be preheated? and at what temperature?
I made a cake over the weekend using boxed batter. I only wanted to make one layer though so I halved all the ingredients. The sides were tough but whenever I inserted the toothpick, the end would come out wet (which meant the bottom wasn’t done yet). But it was already going way past the recommended baking time and the ends were burning. Wat should I have done differently?
What would you recommend for an absolute beginner?
The stove top/burner serves the same purpose as a cooling rack, right?
What about the sides of the cake? or it wont stick to it, right? 
Okay my question for all of you…did you ever start baking by using the boxes (betty crocker, duncan hines etc) or did you start baking totally from scratch?? Any time i go to the store..i get sooo confused and overwhelmed by all the variety there.
I know practice is everything…but how do you practice the decorating part (with the tubes and gels) but not waste so much product? Do you use the tubes as they come from the store or do you add attachments to it to make em easier to use?
This is a whole new arena for me so I have a zillion and one Qs along the way 