Small batch baking

6 Inch Cakes

Because 6 inches is enough

6 Inch Cake Recipes

Every recipe on the site, grouped by the tin it is baked in. Everything here is scaled for a 6 inch or 5 inch tin, which serves four to six people, so you can try a new bake without living off leftovers for a week. Quantities are in grams, and most recipes list both fan oven and Ninja multicooker settings.

New here? Start with About 6 Inch Cakes, then pick a bake below.

Cheesecakes

A collection of 6 inch cheesecakes, most of them built on a soft sponge base rather than a biscuit crumb, which keeps them tender straight from the fridge. The fillings are no bake and set overnight, so the only step that needs an oven is the base. Browse the Cheesecakes archive.

Cakes

Every cake recipe here is scaled to a 6 inch or 5 inch tin, which serves four to six people without leaving half a cake behind. You will find Victoria sponges, coffee and walnut, cherry cake, fruit cakes and chocolate bakes, with quantities in grams and bake settings for both a fan oven and a Ninja multicooker. Browse the Cakes archive.

  • Chocolate Guinness Cakes – A 6 inch chocolate Guinness cake with cream cheese buttercream, plus 10 cupcakes from the same batch.
  • Coffee and Walnut Cake – A small coffee and walnut cake baked in two 6 inch sandwich tins with coffee buttercream.
  • Jam and Coconut Sponge with Pink Custard – The school dinner classic scaled to a 5 inch tin: jam and coconut sponge with pink blancmange custard.
  • Small Key Lime Pie – A scaled-down key lime pie baked in a 5 inch square tin, just enough for four with no leftovers.
  • Manor Cake – A small manor cake baked in a 5 inch tin with dried fruit, mixed spice and a demerara sugar top.
  • Mary Berry’s Cherry Cake – Mary Berry's cherry cake scaled down to a 6 inch tin with glace cherries, ground almonds and lemon icing, plus how to stop the cherries sinking.
  • Nigella’s lemon pudding – Nigella's little lemon puddings baked as one 5 inch pudding with lemon curd underneath.
  • Nigella’s Sticky Toffee Pudding for 4 – Nigella's sticky toffee pudding scaled down to a 5 inch square tin with the full toffee sauce.

Mini Loaf Tin Cakes

Cakes baked in a mini loaf tin, which turns a traybake into individual portions. They are the right size for a lunch box, most of them freeze well, and any batter left over can go into silicone cupcake cases. Browse the Mini Loaf Tin Cakes archive.

Gluten Free Bakes

Gluten free bakes scaled to 6 inch tins. Each one uses gluten free self raising flour with a pinch of xanthan gum, and every recipe notes how to convert it back to standard flour if you are baking for a mixed table. Browse the Gluten-Free archive.

Asian Cakes

Light Asian style sponges, mainly chiffon cakes baked in a 6 inch chiffon tin. These cakes rely on whipped egg whites rather than butter, so the notes on whisking, folding and cooling upside down matter more than the ingredients list. Browse the Asian Cakes archive.

  • Banana Chiffon Cake – A light 3 egg banana chiffon cake baked in a 6 inch chiffon tin, with the three secrets to a chiffon that rises tall and never sinks on cooling.

Celebration Cakes

Birthday and gift cakes that look like a full size celebration cake but only feed around six. Scaling a showstopper down to 6 inches keeps the decorating fun without committing to days of leftovers. Browse the Celebratory Cakes archive.

  • Kit Kat Cake – A 6 inch Kit Kat cake made with chocolate sponge, hazelnut chocolate buttercream and four Kit Kat varieties.

Korean Recipes

Not cake, but the other thing I make often. Small batch kimchi that fills one jar rather than a bucket, a quick cucumber side dish that needs no fermenting, and a gochujang sauce that takes five minutes. Browse the Korean Recipes archive.

  • Cucumber Kimchi – A quick cucumber kimchi, or oi muchim, with soy, sesame and Korean chilli flakes.
  • Kimchi Recipe – A small-batch kimchi recipe using one Chinese leaf cabbage, gochugaru, mooli and carrot.
  • Korean Gochujang Sauce – A quick Korean gochujang sauce made from six store cupboard ingredients.

Browse by tin and method

  • Ninja Multicooker – Almost everything here is baked in a Ninja multicooker on the Bake function rather than a conventional oven. It heats a 6 inch tin quickly and cheaply, and each recipe lists the temperature and time that worked, including where I would change it next time.
  • Sponge Base Cheesecake – A biscuit base goes hard in the fridge. These cheesecakes use a thin sponge instead, usually made with oil rather than butter so it stays soft and cuts cleanly when the cake is cold.
  • No Bake Cheesecake – Cheesecakes where the filling never sees the oven. Each one is mixed, spread over a cooled base and left in the fridge for at least six hours, which makes them a good bake to start the night before.
  • 5 Inch Tin – Even smaller than the usual 6 inch bakes. A 5 inch square tin serves four, which is the right size for a pudding you want to eat the same evening rather than pick at for a week.
  • Chocolate Bakes – Chocolate bakes in small sizes, from a gluten free chocolate sponge to a Guinness cake and a chocolate cheesecake on a chocolate sponge base.
  • Lemon Bakes – Lemon runs through a lot of what I bake. These use bottled lemon juice and lemon curd as much as fresh, which keeps them a store cupboard bake.

Cannot find what you are after? Contact and tell me which cake you would like scaled down to 6 inches, and I will try it.