Get to know the recipe, make it often for a while and write yourself notes about how it went - specifically about baking times.

Use a dry measuring cup for flour and sugar. It's important to stir your flour to loosen it, dip your cup into the flour and swipe the rim level with a knife. Use a glass liquid cup to measure all liquids.

Many people don't know this, but most supermarket chains use the cheapest goods they can find - and the source of the ingredients can vary from week to week. For example, when it comes to baking, there's a real difference between cane sugar and beet sugar, and when you don't know what sugar you're baking with, the results can be inconsistent. I always use C& H Pure Cane Sugar, Gold Medal All Purpose Unbleached Flour, and Challenge or Land o' Lakes unsalted butter.