1. Greasing a cake pan is very important to prevent the cake from sticking to the bottom. While few recipes ask to grease with butter, few others ask for flouring the base. What works best for me is to do both. Grease lightly (butter/pam spray), use your hands. Then flour it with all-purpose flour. Make sure to dust off excess flour too.

   Note: Depending on the type of cake, cocoa powder/powdered sugar can be used to dust instead of all-purpose flour.

2. Always preheat the oven. Starting the oven 1 minute earlier and placing the cake even before the oven is heated through is not accepted! It will only throw the correct cake baking time off-balance. Make sure you keep the rack right in the centre (unless specifically mentioned otherwise in the recipe).
3. Using the correct cake pans always helps. Most often, a given recipe is customised for a specific tin size. If you are just beginning with cakes, follow the same cake tin. With experience, one can start using discretion and make adjustments likewise. This takes care of basic mistakes like filling the cake batter to the brim. The batter should be half filled so that it allows space for the cake to rise. Also make sure to level the batter for a smooth surface.
4. Keeping all the ingredients at room temperature unless otherwise mentioned in the recipe is appropriate for cake making. Also don`t forget to sift the flour.
5. For beginners, a metal cake pan would help to produce tender crusts and this is because the metal helps to reflect the heat away. But if you have to use glass pans, then make sure to reduce approximately 25 degrees from the temperature mentioned in the recipe.
6. Last but not the least, cool the cake completely before removing it from the pan.

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Tips and image courtesy: Dhivya Karthik @ http://chefinyou.com/