High Altitude Baking Tips: Sweet Success in the Mountains

If you’ve ever followed a recipe exactly and still ended up with sunken cakes, dry cookies, or muffins that explode over the pan — you’re not alone. Baking at high altitude (above 5,000 feet) is a science all its own.

Living and baking in Evergreen, Colorado, I’ve had to learn how to adjust traditional recipes to handle our thinner air and lower atmospheric pressure. And now, I bake those adjustments right into every Sweet Start Kit — so you don’t have to guess.

Here are a few things to know about high-altitude baking:

1. Things Rise Faster — and Fall Harder

Leavening agents like baking soda and baking powder work too well up here, causing cakes and cookies to rise quickly and then collapse. That’s why many of our kits slightly reduce leavening to help your desserts bake up tall and even.

2. Moisture Evaporates Faster

Dry air = drier baked goods. We tweak the flour and sugar ratios in our recipes to retain moisture — so you get soft, tender results without having to experiment.

3. Oven Temps Matter

At higher elevations, oven temperatures can run cooler than you think. That’s why our instructions include adjusted baking times and suggest checking for doneness a few minutes early.

4. Why Our Kits Are Built for the Mountains

Sweet Start Kits take out the guesswork. Every ingredient is measured with altitude in mind, so you can focus on baking and enjoying the process — without worrying about science experiments gone wrong.

Bonus Tip:If you’re baking something from scratch at altitude, try reducing sugar by 1–2 tablespoons, slightly increasing liquid, and raising your oven temp by 15–25°F.

Baking in the mountains doesn’t have to be frustrating — it just takes a little know-how (and maybe a kit or two to help along the way). Whether you’re new to high-altitude life or a seasoned baker, Sweet Start Kits are here to make homemade feel effortless — even up here in the clouds.