Every cake on this site was made using the simplest baking tools available, with very few specialized tools bought for these cakes.  Most of what you have in your own kitchen will totally suffice for making awesome cakes.  Here is a detailed list of what I use to make cakes in my own kitchen, including on my favorite pans, cake tools and decorating tools.  And remember, use your imagination… good things come to those who experiment!  Have fun & bake on!

• A set of mixing cups (1/4-cup, 1/3-cup, 1/2-cup, & 1 cup sizes)-  I actually have two sets as sometimes it’s nice to have an extra set (in case you don’t run the dishwasher as often as you should...who does that?) ;)
• A simple hand-mixer-  I use a $10 dollar one I bought at my grocery store tons of years ago and it works fine.  I bought another one recently (again the $10 kind) thinking maybe I’d use it, but I've only ever used the extra set of beaters it came with...the mixer itself has never even been out of the box.  I just like the simple hand-mixers because you can easily put it away in a cabinet, you can see how your ingredients are being combined, you can use any size bowl (for freedom in doubling, tripling recipes, etc.), and your kids can easily use it when baking with you (though always, always be safe...it is a mixer and we all must be careful in the kitchen!)
• Some large bowls for mixing-   I use all kinds of bowls, basically whatever is clean at the moment, including stainless steel bowls my father-in law gave me (very industrial light weight shallow bowls perfect for mixing cake batter), a deep stainless steal bowl my sister gave me (great for doubling & tripling recipes), plastic bowls (like the ones you’d use for chips for parties), or anything you’d like. 
• A spatula for scraping the bowl when pouring the batter into your baking pans-   It ensures you get as much mix into your pans (and provides an excellent tool for scraping the bowls for your personal snitching!).
• A toothpick, bamboo skewer or fork-   Use these tools to prick your cakes to test for doneness.

• a fork when I have had no hand-mixer (just really whip up your batter as fast as possible),
• a large soup pot when I had no bowl (making cupcakes for my little sister’s bridal shower in NY-those Manahattan-ites & their kitchens), 
• a tablespoon (or a large spoon) when I had no measuring cups (Google your measurements...1 US cup= 16 US tablespoons)
• a simple spoon when I had no spatula (that usually happens when I haven’t run my dishwasher!) :)
• A soup ladle when pouring batter into cupcake tins

I’ve collected quite a bit of baking pans, but only as I’ve made more and more cakes.  I highly recommend seeing what you can do with what you have before you got out and buy more pans.  You’d be surprised how man cakes you can make with just what you have!

Basic Cake Pans:  Here are the basic cake pans that I have and that cover almost all of my cakes:

• Two 9x13 inch pans (if you make tons of cakes or always will need a large cake serving more than 15 people, just get two 9x13 pans so you can bake them at the same time & be done with it!).  I use an Air-bake pan for super even baking and a Wilton pan which is good also.
• Two 8x8 inch square pans (mine are square glass Pyrex baking dishes...nothing fancy or specific for cakes) 
• Two 10inch x 2 inch round pans (mine are an Air-bake for even baking)
• Two 9inch x 2 inch round pans (mine are Wilton)
• Three 8inch x 2 inch round pans (mine are super cheap ones that I bought from my grocery store and they work ok)
• **One 6inch x 3 inch round pan (Wilton)
• **One 8inch x3 inch pan (Wilton)
• **One 9inch x 3 inch spring-form pan (Wilton)
  ** As I made more cakes, I did go ahead and buy these 3inch deep round pans from Wilton as they made baking easier. If I had to make a tiered cake, I could bake all three in the oven at one time (instead of multiple baking's using all the 2-inch deep pans above).  If you  need a cake that needs to be filled (i.e. 2 or 3 layers), you’ll just need to torte these cakes using a leveler or bread-knife (discussed in Carving FAQ’s). However, I made a lot of cakes just fine before I treated myself to these pans.  And yes, they are a treat indeed.
• One ball mold pan from Wilton (the only cake mold I would definitely recommend buying...I love it!)
• One Bundt pan (mine is the Cathedral style from Williams & Sonoma...they have such great styles!)
• Two 12-cupcake pans (mine are not a special brand or anything..I’ve had them for years)
• One mini-cupcake tin (I did have to buy this one at a Pampered Chef party because I felt I should by something, but now I’m really glad I bought it because I use it all the time for cupcakes, cookie desserts and mini-muffins...too fun!)

Everyday Ideas Cake Pans:  I also use just about anything that will bake a cake to make all sorts of shapes:

• Glass bowls make a variety of bowl shaped cakes in all sizes (I use them for all sorts of cakes, including the doll cakes).
• An empty tin can, washed out, makes an excellent tin can shape (used for train cakes & as a beverage glass cake).
• Baking loaf pans make excellent loaf shaped cakes (used for car & train cakes or more).
• A glass or tin quiche dish makes a nicely scalloped thin cake (making a giant Reese's Cup….I want to try that one!).
• Ceramic or glass ramekins make nice evenly shaped small cakes (if you want something a bit different than cupcakes).

Fun Cake Pans: I carve all of my shaped cakes as I’ve never been good at judging how much batter to put in shaped cake pans, and I have more freedom when I shape the cake myself!  So while there are some really fun cake mold pans, just try carving your desired shape out of a regular cake pan shape and you might just have more fun (see Carving FAQ’s and directions in the Cake Photo Galleries).   However, I have received some fun cake molds as presents and have had such fun with them, including:

• Wilton’s Giant Cupcake cake mold (it makes a HUGE cupcake...too funny!)
• Wilton’s 9inch Heart shaped pan (great for heart cakes, although when I make my tiered heart cakes I make all rounds and the just carve them to they all look the same and stack nicely).
• William & Sonoma’s Turkey cake mold (great for Thanksgiving).
• William & Sonoma's Snowman cake mold (I have trouble getting this one to stand upright though..my snowman always looks like he’s had too much egg-nog, if you know what I mean).
• William & Sonoma’s shaped cupcake pans, including the Train set, the Bug set and the silicone dinosaur set (these are so fun to use when you have no time but want to do something special with the kids. And I don’t even really decorate them with frosting as I’d lose some of the detail...and the kids prefer them striped with candy & sprinkles anyway!).

While I am big fan of just using what you have to make fabulous cakes, when it comes to decorating, you will need some of the tools specific to cake decorating.  It will allow you to do things really well that you thought you’d never be able to do!  The good thing is that many of the decorating tools are relatively inexpensive, so treat yourself...you deserve it!

Cake Prep Tools:

• Baking Cooling Racks-  I have one large one (~13 x20) and a set of three nesting racks (10x14) that all work great.
• A Wilton cake leveler-  I spent a long time leveling my cakes with a large serrated bread-knife and while that worked ok, once I got the Wilton leveler I ALWAYS use it now….it make perfectly leveled cakes.
• A small pastry brush-  This tool works very well for brushing crumbs off of your work area, cake board or cake itself. Admittedly, I destroyed mine in the dishwasher a few months ago and have been fine without one (just brush crumbs off gently with your hand or a paper-towel), but I do wish I had one.  
• A Wilton rotating cake stand– This stand is great for decorating cakes and while it doesn’t work for all my cakes (they tend to be big & goofy shapes), it works well for my more simple or smaller cakes.  I really do like it, and you can use it as a stand as well (I’m sure you see it in lots of my pictures).
• Parchment paper– Sometimes I use this to put my cakes on when they are cool so I can cut them to my hearts content and the place them on the cake boards for frosting (thus avoid oil or cut marks on my cake serving board).

Cake Decorating Tools:

• Frosting spatulas– I have two slanted ones and one flat one and I really like the slanted ones the best.  I also like the Wilton ones the best as they are nice and light-weight and much cheaper than anything you’ll find in a specialty store.
• Frosting tips-  I’ve collected many types and brands of tips from gifts and my own purchases over the last year or so, and have had luck with many.  I primarily use Wilton tips, with the following sizes meeting 99% of my piping needs:
  
  • Round tip #1,2,3,4,12
  • Open Star tip #16,21,1M
  • Closed Flower tip #2C
  • Multihole tip #233 (my Multihole tip-I call it my grass tip-is from a Betty Crocker decorating set my kids got me, so yes, I do actually mix & match tips and use just about anything).
• Couplers (holds the tip to the frosting bag)-  I use the Wilton couplers as they work well with the Wilton tips (duh!).  I use just the small size one and if my bigger tips do not fit them then I just stick the tip through a cut I make in my Ziploc bag corner & it works just fine for me.
• Ziploc Quart size freezer bags-  I spent almost a year buying and using all types of the Wilton frosting bags (disposable plastic ones and the washable kind) and finally found out that Ziploc bags work just as well for my needs and are far cheaper. I simply put the coupler into a corner of the bag and snip off the tip of the corner so that the coupler will tightly poke through.  You can then attach your preferred tip & fill with frosting.  I have had great success with this method, with very few bag breaks (a couple of times the bag seam popped and frosting got all over my hand, but I knew it would happen because I was using too thick frosting and squeezing too hard...you’ll be more patient than I was, right?) :)
• A Spoon-  If you want your frosting to look swirled and soft (like on my white cake in the Traditional Bakery-Style Cake Photo Gallery), use the spoon to gently press in and out of the frosting so that it swirls around.
• A butter knife-  I use a knife sometimes to smooth out very small areas of frosting (like the eyes on a shaped character cake).  I'll pipe the frosting in the shape needed in little lines, and then use a butter knife tip to spread the piped lines smooth (if you need you can dip the knife in warm water and pat or shake dry and the use it to spread the frosting smooth) .  
• Icing Coloring gels-  Please use Wilton’s Icing Coloring gels instead of those food coloring droppers.  Wilson’s icing colorings do not add liquid to your frostings and make gorgeous, rich colors.  Once you use these, you will never use the droppers coloring for your frostings again. 
• Toothpicks-  I use toothpicks to put coloring into my buttercream or fondant (just don’t double dip), although when I run out of toothpicks, I find  fork tip or knife tip works just as well too!

Fondant Decorating Tools:  See Decorating FAQ’s for more details and directions on using Fondant to decorate.

• Pre-Made Fondant-  I’ve always used Wilton fondant (mostly just the white as I’ll color it myself).
• A Rolling Pin-  I have  a large one (like one you would use for cookies) and a small Wilton one made just for Fondant rolling.  These work equally well when rolling out your fondant.
• A ruler-  I use my children’s wooden ruler to measure the thickness of the Fondant I’m rolling, and any specific sizes I might need for ribbon & bow strips.
• Fondant cutter shapes-  I have the Daisy shape and the Circle shape (3 sizes come in one pack)
• Pizza cutter-  This tool makes for very straight-line cuts if your making strips
• Tissue-  I use toilet paper and Kleenex if I need to stuff a Fondant bow or shape while drying.
  

Chocolate Decorating Tools:

• Wilton Candy Melts– I always use these chocolates as they are yummy, super easy to use and the directions for melting & storing are right on the bag. These candy melts are so simple that my kids & I use them all the time when making desserts (melt the chocolate candy melts and mix with cereal for cereal globs, marshmallows for a marshmallow mash, pretzels for chocolate covered pretzels, and more!). Best of all, everyone one loves chocolate on their cake, so whether you use a mold to make fun accent pieces or pipe out your own free-form designs, it is such a fun addition to cake!  See Decorating FAQ’s for more details & directions.
• Candy Molds– I have Wilton’s heart mold, star lollipop mold, baby item mold and shell mold. I also will use any plastic container (washed out of course) to make all sorts of shapes and have even started to save interesting packaging for my molds. For example, I used the shrink-wrapped plastic container that my child’s bowling set came in to make chocolate bowling pins (see Decorating FAQ’s and the Bowling ball cake in the Ball Cake Photo Gallery for more details & directions).
• Lollipop Sticks-  I use Wilton lollipop stick or cookie sticks to make my chocolate lollipops.  Some molds have a stick holder (the star mold above for example), but for my circle lollipops, I just free hand the circle and put the stick on the top (see Decorating FAQ’s for more details & directions on making chocolate lollipops).
• Plastic Saran wrap– I use this to wrap my trays when making free-form designs.  The chocolate comes off plastic wrap very easily once hardened. (see Decorating FAQ’s for more details & directions).
• Microwavable bowls– I use these to melt my candy melts.
• Ziploc Bags– I fill these bags with chocolate and then snip a corner off in order to pipe my free-from chocolate designs.  I think I’d like to get those little squirt bottles I see chocolate makers & bakers use on the Food Network shows, but I haven't gotten around to buying them and my baggies work just fine for now (see Decorating FAQ’s for more details & directions).

Cake Presentation & Delivery Tools:
I keep my cake presentations pretty simple as usually all my efforts goes to the cake itself. However, here is what I use for cake presentation & delivery:

• Cake Stands-  I wish I had enough room in my house to start collecting cake stands as they come in such a fun range of sizes & styles.   However, I have a few, including 3 sizes of simple glass cake stands, a old-fashioned nickel stand from my Grandmother,  a gorgeous ceramic cream-colored stand with a scalloped edge and another basic glass one.  I’ve even  put a plate or tray on a decorative bowl inverted for a really custom look.  Have fun with it!
• Cake boards– I use the Wilton white cake boards for the majority of my cakes. I've never splurged for the decorative boards but just use the simple, cheap ones.  I've also never covered them in Fondant or foil or anything, and no-one even seems to notice.  If the board is looking to plain though, you’ll see in my cake pictures that, I dress it up by piping a design or message on it that matches the cake!  Just be careful though because frosting does not come off of a cake board (I have one cake I did not even put on this site because I totally goofed up the cake board and though the cake looks great, the board ruined it!).
• Serving trays-  You do not need to use cake boards if you do not want to but them.  Just use your own trays to serve up your cakes as they work just fine too!
• Cake boxes– I use the Wilton boxes found in lots of hobby stores or Wilton stores to transport my cakes & cupcakes.  Some of my cakes do not fit into the boxes and I either have to cut the top off the box (like for the doll or tiered cake), or just not use a box at all (like for the guitar or tea pot cakes).  To deliver your cakes, have someone hold it in their lap or place on the floor of the car or in the trunk where it won’t slide around….and then pray. No just kidding, you should be fine (none of my cakes have ever slid off their board...knock on wood!). 
• Cupcake/Cake Carrier-  I do have a cupcake carrier that carries either cupcakes or a 9x13 cake. However, it only carries 12 cupcakes, so I end up having to mush in the other 12 cupcakes, and while it has worked ok in the couple of times I’ve used it, I’m waiting for someone to develop one that carries more than 12 cupcakes (I mean who is only taking a dozen cupcakes somewhere!).