Incorrect filenames

It happens to me over and over again, writing a filename with or without an "s" at the end, in code and as a filename also. This drives me crazy, because it takes hours and hours to find this mistake, if you only watch the code.

Try to stick with the conventions:
Contollers are always plural, e.g. users_controller.php
Models are singular, e.g. user.php

Remember to use "echo" in views

Building a form with the form helper and it isn' there... very anoying. So check first if you use echo on all relevant lines ;-)

I try to use plain html instead of php embedded html, so i have to write

<div>
<?php echo $some['array']; ?>
</div>
instead of

<?php
echo '<div>';
echo $some['array'];
echo '</div>';
This helps also in IDEs like Netbeans with codeformating, which will also raise productivity.

Correct paths to images

You will experience problems, when you do not use the HtmlHelper for images in your views.
The HtmlHelper will always create the right paths to the pictures, no matter where the site in your structur is found. Using a standard html img tag will often lead to a problem in your view, so the images will not be shown.

Links
HtmlHelper: http://book.cakephp.org/view/835/image

Unexpected results in ajax calls

This can be a pain in the back. All logic is fine, but the result is not that what you expected?
I know.. happens almost everytime to me, after creating a new method.
So, check your debug level. It can mess up the result.

function foobar()  {
   configure::write('debug',0);
   // somthing happens here
}
This will help a lot and will save time.

Nice urls

With thinking about SEO and nice urls, so a lot of people (incl. me in the beginning) try to give controllers and actions a name that will look great in the addressbar.
[p]Avoid that until you know what you are doing
Take what the database and the name convention gives you, just make everything work first and do not worry about the nice urls.
In the beginning i spend almost half of my time with thinking about names and stuff, don't waste your time and use the html-helper for links, like you are supposed to do, and later, when you are done coding, routes will do everything for you.
You will be surprised how great it works, because the routing will change all related links automatically, when the links are build with the html-helper

Links
HtmlHelper: http://book.cakephp.org/view/206/Inserting-Well-Formatted-elements#link-836
Routing: http://book.cakephp.org/view/46/Routes-Configuration

Put the query where it belongs

In the begining i always put my query in the controller, because it was an easy way to get what i want and it didn't bother me in any way.
After getting used to the cakephp, i found out that it was just stupid, because the structure won't stay clean.
To stay on top of things, put all that stuff in the related model and get the data from there.
The controller will stay lean and thats what you want... just believe it.
If your projects starts to get more complex, you will be thankful that you did it that way ;-)

...and always remember...

No matter what you are about to do, this is still PHP and you CAN do almost everything you want,everywhere.
But be careful with that, because getting too far away from the way you are supposed to do things, could make you rework your "lazy" code again, after having some weeks experience with developing in cake.