How do I scale a recipe up or down?

Divide the yield you want by the yield the recipe makes to get the scaling factor, then multiply every ingredient by it.

How do I scale a cake recipe to a bigger pan?

Use the ratio of the pan areas. For round pans, square the new diameter and divide by the square of the old one: an 8-inch to a 10-inch round is a factor of about 1.56.

Does the cost per piece change when I scale a recipe?

Usually it falls. Ingredients and packaging scale with the batch, but your time and oven time grow less, so a larger batch spreads them over more pieces.

Can Farinu scale a recipe for me?

It does not resize a recipe automatically: duplicate the recipe, enter the new quantities and time, and Farinu shows the new batch cost and cost per piece. The free plan covers up to 10 recipes and turns your orders into whole batches per recipe and a shopping list; the Team plan removes the limit.

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Recipe scaler with batch cost and yield

A recipe scaler multiplies every ingredient by one number, the scaling factor, which is the yield you want divided by the yield the recipe makes: to turn 12 cupcakes into 30, multiply everything by 30 divided by 12, which is 2.5. Below is the formula step by step, a worked example that also scales the batch cost, and the few things a plain recipe scaling calculator gets wrong, like eggs, leavening, pan size and your time.

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Worked example: 12 vanilla cupcakes scaled to 30

Example numbers only, in USD. Every quantity is multiplied by the same factor, then the batch is costed again at the new size.

Original yield: 12 cupcakes
Target yield: 30 cupcakes
Scaling factor: 30 divided by 12: 2.5
Flour: 190 g times 2.5: 475 g
Sugar: 200 g times 2.5: 500 g
Butter: 115 g times 2.5 is 287.5 g: 288 g
Eggs: 2 times 2.5: 5 eggs
Milk: 120 ml times 2.5: 300 ml
Baking powder: 7 g times 2.5: 17.5 g
Ingredient cost: $3.10 times 2.5: $7.75
Liners: 30 at $0.05: $1.50
Labour: about 70 minutes at $18 an hour, not 2.5 times 40: $21.00
Batch cost for 30: $30.25
Cost per cupcake at 30 (was $1.31 at 12): $1.01

The batch of 12 costs $15.70, of which $12.00 is your time. Ingredients scale with the factor, your time does not, so each cupcake gets cheaper.

The recipe scaler formula, step by step

Every recipe scaler does the same arithmetic, and it works best in grams and millilitres, which multiply cleanly.

Find the scaling factor: the yield you want divided by the yield the recipe makes. 30 divided by 12 is 2.5; to halve a recipe the factor is 0.5.
Multiply every ingredient, including sub-recipes such as the frosting, by the factor.
Round eggs to whole eggs, or weigh them: a large egg is about 50 g without the shell, so 2.5 eggs is about 125 g of beaten egg.
Check the new batch fits your mixer bowl and your pans; if not, make it as two batches.
Cost the new batch and divide by the new yield to get the cost per piece.

Scaling by pan size instead of servings

When a customer wants a bigger cake rather than more cupcakes, the factor comes from the pan area, not the serving count. For round pans, divide the square of the new diameter by the square of the old one: going from an 8-inch to a 10-inch round is 100 divided by 64, a factor of about 1.56, not 1.25.

For rectangular pans, compare length times width: a 9 by 13 inch pan is 117 square inches and an 8 inch square is 64, a factor of about 1.83.

What does not scale in a straight line

Most ingredients multiply exactly.

Leavening, salt and strong spices: scale them, then taste and test; many bakers go slightly under the full factor on big batches.
Baking time and temperature: they depend on the pan, not the recipe; more cupcakes on more trays bake in about the same time.
Mixing: a mixer bowl overfilled mixes unevenly, so two normal batches often beat one huge one.
Your time: weighing and baking 30 takes longer than 12, but not 2.5 times as long.

Scale the cost and the yield, not just the quantities

A recipe resizer that only changes grams leaves out the question that matters when you sell: what does each piece cost now? Ingredients and packaging grow with the factor, while labour, oven time and your share of rent grow much less, so the cost per piece usually falls as the batch grows. In the example above it drops from $1.31 to $1.01 a cupcake.

Scaling recipes and orders in Farinu

Farinu keeps each recipe with its yield, ingredients, sub-recipes, packaging, labour, machines and overhead, and shows the batch cost, the cost per piece, a suggested price and the margin. To cost a bigger version, duplicate the recipe, enter the new quantities and time, and compare the cost per piece of the two. The free plan costs up to 10 recipes.

The production plan turns a week of custom orders into whole batches per recipe and a shopping list, through every sub-recipe, and on the Team plan it takes off the stock you have on hand, and the AI assistant can import a recipe from a photo or a spreadsheet so you don't retype it.

Questions

How do I scale a recipe up or down?: Divide the yield you want by the yield the recipe makes to get the scaling factor, then multiply every ingredient by it.
How do I scale a cake recipe to a bigger pan?: Use the ratio of the pan areas. For round pans, square the new diameter and divide by the square of the old one: an 8-inch to a 10-inch round is a factor of about 1.56.
Does the cost per piece change when I scale a recipe?: Usually it falls. Ingredients and packaging scale with the batch, but your time and oven time grow less, so a larger batch spreads them over more pieces.
Can Farinu scale a recipe for me?: It does not resize a recipe automatically: duplicate the recipe, enter the new quantities and time, and Farinu shows the new batch cost and cost per piece. The free plan covers up to 10 recipes and turns your orders into whole batches per recipe and a shopping list; the Team plan removes the limit.

Know what every batch size costs

Create a free account, add a recipe, and see the batch cost, the cost per piece and the margin at the size you actually bake.