Recipe for 3 9 cakes - baked in 2 8 -?

[Wildgirl]

Hi! (I’m so happy to have found you - I haven’t baked since before the pandemic and am getting a bit overwhelmed! My former go-to forum has changed)

I need to do a hidden zebra cake for a grad party Saturday. Never done one before. Because of the amount of people coming, I was going to use a rectangular, but that’s not going to work well for the zebra, so I’m adjusting the plans to include an 8” on top of a sheet pan, so the 8” round will have the zebra, the sheet pan plain chocolate). It’s themed and at least in my head it will all work well. It’s for a friend who has absolutely no expectations and will be happy with whatever, although my aim is high lol.

Anyway, my issue at the moment is that the recipe I wanted to use calls for 3 9” pans. I was hoping to use 2 8” pans. (And the pans are 3” deep as well, although I don’t need to fill them). How would you do this? As far as how much batter per pan, or how deep to fill them - and how long to bake?? (I’m not worried about extra batter, I’ll just make cupcakes).

I'm sure these are simple questions for you all - I get overwhelmed and shut down easily anymore (living with long Covid atm) and if you could help me think through this, I’d be sooooooo appreciative!!

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Hi! (I’m so happy to have found you - I haven’t baked since before the pandemic and am getting a bit overwhelmed! My former go-to forum has changed)

I need to do a hidden zebra cake for a grad party Saturday. Never done one before. Because of the amount of people coming, I was going to use a rectangular, but that’s not going to work well for the zebra, so I’m adjusting the plans to include an 8” on top of a sheet pan, so the 8” round will have the zebra, the sheet pan plain chocolate). It’s themed and at least in my head it will all work well. It’s for a friend who has absolutely no expectations and will be happy with whatever, although my aim is high lol.

Anyway, my issue at the moment is that the recipe I wanted to use calls for 3 9” pans. I was hoping to use 2 8” pans. (And the pans are 3” deep as well, although I don’t need to fill them). How would you do this? As far as how much batter per pan, or how deep to fill them - and how long to bake?? (I’m not worried about extra batter, I’ll just make cupcakes).

I'm sure these are simple questions for you all - I get overwhelmed and shut down easily anymore (living with long Covid atm) and if you could help me think through this, I’d be sooooooo appreciative!!

If you are not worried about extra batter, then fill the pans approximately 3/4 full.

3” deep cakes or cakes 10” and larger require a heating core. Cake bakes from the outside to the center. Batter in contact with the pan on sides and bottom bake and set first. If there is too much batter, the sides and bottom will over-bake by the time the center done. A heating core heats into the center of the batter, creating a more even bake. It’s the same principle as a tube in the middle of a bundt cake pan. Depending on the type of material used in your cake pans, you may need to reduce the oven temperature up to 25°F. Anodized aluminum, dark metal, and nonstick coating conducts heat more intensely. So cake baked in these types of pans will over-bake the sides and bottom of the cake.

Example of heating cores.

https://www.amazon.com/Ateco-1449-Cake-Heating-Core/dp/B0061UGRIC

https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Daddios-HCR-425-Heating-Stainless/dp/B010NY7A9Q/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=3MXQDL0R8QQG5&keywords=cake+heating+rod&qid=1689120591&sprefix=cake+heating+%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-3

How to use a heating core

===========

How type of cake pan effects final product

Cake on the bottom was baked in a natural uncoated light colored pan. Cake on top was baked in a Fat Daddio anodized aluminum pan. Both cakes were made from the same batch of batter, and baked in the same oven at the same time. The fat Daddio pan quickly over baked the cake. it has a dark brown, dry, hard crust. The other cake has perfect color; no dried out hard crust. It's how cake is suppose to be.

•=====•=====•=====•=====•

if you want to learn how to scale a recipe, you can read this post

Scaling Recipes: Help with Math for Perfect Portions

Trying to scale a two-layer cake, 9" layers, to fit two 7" pans. The way I am figuring it: The original recipe is approx. 40 ounces of batter. I am multiplying 40 x 7 and dividing by 9, coming up with approximately 31 ounces batter for the 7 inch layers. Is this the correct formula to scale...

www.baking-forums.com

 

[Mona]

It’s great to see you diving back into baking! For adapting your recipe from 3 9-inch pans to 2 8-inch pans, you'll want to fill each 8-inch pan about two-thirds full. Since they're smaller, check if they're done about 5-10 minutes earlier than the original recipe suggests by inserting a toothpick into the center; it should come out clean or with a few crumbs. Any extra batter can be turned into delicious cupcakes—just fill the cupcake liners two-thirds full and bake for about 15-20 minutes. Don’t stress too much and take things one step at a time.