5 easy steps to perfect cakes everytime!

The message only allowed so many characters, so I continued here. For step #1, you can use shortening or cooking spray; they both work well. I use Crisco because I think the cooking spray still allows the cake to stick, but that is a personal preference.
Step #2, to prevent that bump, when dragging the batter to the edges of the pan, drag or push the batter UP the sides of the pan so that it sticks to the pan. You do not necessarily want to see the bottom of the pan, but you wnt a thin smear of batter.
Step #3, having all of the ingredients at room temp. allows for better incorporation of all of the ingredients, but it also keeps the temperatue of the cake the same so when you stick it in the oven, the butter/eggs are not trying to cool off during bake time.
Step #4. The caving after baking is due to overbeating the eggs: you either beat the eggs when it wasn't necessary, meaning you beat them before adding them to the mix or you beat the eggs longer than called for. Eggs are ususally one of the last ingedients added, so you should always mix them until they are just incorporated (mixed in)
Step #5, my oven runs cold so I always have to add 5 minutes to my bake time. Depending on what I am doing, I will increase the temperature, but I do not recommend that until you are completely confident you know how your oven cooks. If you are still unsure, you can always have it callibrated to find out for sure.
I have been baking for alost 20 years, and my great-grandmother, grandmother and an aunt all did wedding cakes for a living. (Those have to be PERFECT!) Follw these steps everytime you bake a cake, and I promise you will have success everytime!!!

Thank you Claudia! I am elated to have found this site. I have searched for sites to discuss all things cooking and baking related and this is the first one where I have actually had success with other people!! Thank you for inviting me to the page!

Thanks for sharing. Will forward on to those I know who bake!

Because not all cake batters are stiff enough to stay where you "drag or push" I would add one idea to Step #2 : Use a product such as Wilton's Bake Even Strips to wrap the sides of cake pans. These ensure perfectly flat tops, no cracked centers and no overbaked edges, and they aren't all that much effort to apply. Just soak a few minutes (while preparing cake), wring, wrap and pin the ovenproof strips around pans. That allows the center of cake to rise and cook about the same time as the outer edges.