# Cake Pan Sizes



## michaelrkn (Apr 1, 2008)

I have a Devil's Food Cake recipe that calls for baking it in three 8-inch cake pans. I own two 9-inch pans. Any suggestions? Thanks!


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## blueicus (Mar 16, 2005)

Using our good friend geometry an 8-inch cake pan has 201 square inches of surface area on the bottom while a 9-incher has a 254 square inches of surface area. You can cut down the recipe to about 5/6ths of the original recipe.


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## jbd (Mar 17, 2008)

Alternatively you could just divide the batter evenly between the two 9" pans. If you have concerns of overfilling the pans then remove one sixth of the batter before panning.


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## izbnso (May 12, 2007)

Just a hunch on my part, but is sounds like you are using one of those old recipes that calls for spreading batter between 3 pans so that you can end up with 3 skinny layers of cake to fill and maybe even ice and you don't have to cut the cake to make layers. My mother had a coconut cake recipe and she used to do this. 
Given that, I don't think that you have a recipe that will overflow 2 nine inch pans. I think you have a recipe that was supposed to produce 3 skinny cakes. 
Measure the cups of batter: 3-3 ½ cups of batter to one 8 inch round 2 inch deep pan yields a nicely risen and even cake sometimes with a hump depends on the recipe. 5-5 ½ cups for a 9 inch round 2 inch deep pan. 
This, of course, means that two 8 inch round 2 inch deep pans should take 6-7 cups of batter and two 9 inch round 2 inch deep pans should take 10-11 cups of batter.


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## norma (Jun 4, 2006)

Michaelrkn, if you have two 9" pans I would recommend you to put around 1/3 of batter in one pan, and 2/3 of batter in the second pan.
Bake, let it cool, and split the taller cake into two parts. 
Voila! Now you have 3 nice layers of cake!


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Our good friend geometry is, apparently, not Blueicus' friend: 
For a circle, A = pi x r^2, not pi x d^2. Let's see what that means in this case:

(I'm going to do some rounding off to keep things simple)

For the 8" cake pan, A = pi x 4 x 4 = (approx) 50 sq in
For the 9" cake pan, A = pi x 4.5 x. 4.5 = (approx) 64 sq in.

Arithmetic and algebra are also sulking. 

3 pans x 50 sq in = 150 sq in 
2 pans x 64 sq in = 128 sq in -- but think of it as 130 sq in just to keep things simple. (I warned you about the rounding off, dont get smug) So, the ratio is 15:13

Assuming the pans are 2" deep, the total volume for the 8" pans is 300 cu in, and for the 9" pans it's 260 cu in. However the actual depth is not important, as long as the depth of the 9" pans is equal or greater than the depth of the 8" pans. Returning to our equal depth assumption, our 15:13 ratio isn't really all that different than blueicus' 6:5 ratio. Of course it isn't. The ratio of a given squared diameter to the squared radius calculated from the diameter, is always 4:1, and since it's constant it cancels out. Better to be lucky than good, eh? :crazy: 

You're either going to have to cut down the recipe by a bit, or hope the recipe fits in your 9" pans. As izbnso pointed out, most recipes allow a little room, the whole recipe will probably fit. However, combining her prediction with your actual number of pans, 3 x 3-1/2 cups = 10-1/2 cups which is darn close to the 10-11 cups she predicts will fill 2 x 9" pans. This should make you feel better. I know it does me. 

Presumably Norma got mixed up and thought the problem was not enough batter. Considering that you're worried about whether or not you have sufficient volume for the recipe, the suggestion to put more batter in one pan doesn't make sense. Splitting 9" dia cakes is not easy. It's not the cutting, it's the moving and stacking. Unless you have spatulas the right size and have done this sort of thing before, I'd suggest skipping it for now and learning with smaller cakes. Also, you'd be icing 4 x 64 sq in surfaces instead of 3 x 50 sq in surfaces, plus a bigger area on the side, and would need (approx) twice as much frosting. 

Hope this clarifies,
BDL


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## izbnso (May 12, 2007)

As izbnso pointed out, most recipes allow a little room, the whole recipe will probably fit. However, combining his prediction with your actual number of pans, 3 x 3-1/2 cups = 10-1/2 cups which is darn close to the 10-11 cups he predicts will fill 2 x 9" pans. 


He is a she, no harm no foul.


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## lisbet (Dec 30, 2004)

Perhaps this website could also help:

Cake Pan Size Conversions - Allrecipes


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## shel (Dec 20, 2006)

You're way off base. The question was about cake pans, not pi pans. Sheesh! :lol:

scb


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

For this my parents sacrificed to buy me a slide rule?

BLD


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## free rider (May 23, 2006)

Slide rule!  Can one even get a slide rule anymore?


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## shel (Dec 20, 2006)

Absolutely! Sphere Research's Slide Rule Universe

Shel


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## dscheidt (Feb 27, 2008)

While general purpose slide rules are pretty well dead, there are lots of slide rules around. They're just moderately specialized. I saw one not long ago, that was a circular rule for calculating the amount of concrete needed for paving jobs. I could see one useful for the kitchen -- metric to US conversions, pan sizes to volume and back, probably other stuff.


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