So...interesting story for you scratch bakers out there. I have a large cake that I am doing for a little girls bday party this weekend - 50 ppl or so. I have never done a 10", only 9/6 or 8/6. I decided to do a 10/8 this time so there would be enough cake.
I also decided to try a new recipe out of a Dede Wilson book - her essential yellow cake. Mainly because she has the recipes broken out into various pan sizes. She did not have a single 10" though, and I only have one 10" pan so I knew I had to make this 2x. I never let batter hang around more than a few minutes before I bake, especially when using cake flour.
So off I go making the 2 x 6" recipe, thinking it is enough to fill 1 10" pan. WRONG - it barely came up an inch in the pan. Batter was thick too - thicker than I am used to, and I measured spot on. Well, 20 mins later it still looks like it is not done. I wait 5 mins, finger test and it feels dense, but still has no color, so I pull it out and begin my tried and true yellow cake and get ready to pop that in the oven.
I let the first one cool, knowing it would be hard as a rock and unusable, so I cut into it to see the damage. WRONG again. The cake was one of the most tender I have EVER made! It is delish - and so NOT sweet, VERY light and just fabulous - definately wedding cake material.
I am not using that recipe for this cake - I already have cake #2 in the oven and the ingredients ready to go for #3. Aside from the fact that cake #1 is only an inch high
SO - I am wondering...why no color and the deception? First time using a flower nail? I used baking strips too - and the cake looked like it did not rise. I am flabbergasted... How can I ever trust another cake

Do you mind posting the recipe? That could help solve the mystery. I use recipes from The Cake Bible, and a 10 inch requires 2.5 times more batter than a 6 inch.

Am I allowed to post a recipe from a book without the authors consent? I would love to post it - it really is a good recipe, I am just surprised that the result was so different than I thought it would be based on 20 years of experience looking at cakes coming from my oven
2.5x cake batter would have definately filled the pan to where it should have been!

There are tons of recipes from authors on blogspots. You must make sure to give the author credit for the recipe.

I would really like to see it, also.

Theresa

OK - here it is - it is for 2 6" pans. I am thinking because I put it in a 10", the texture came out different that expected? It also has 2 large eggs, which I thought was a lot for this small recipe.
I also have not used baking strips very often and have never use a flower nail. The cake looked raw, but was not. After this attempt, I used my normal 2x 8" recipe, used almost all of it per 10" pan, and it came out fine.

From Dede Wilson (Wedding Cakes You Can Make):
Essential Yellow Cake
1 1/2 c. cake flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temp, cut into pieces
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 lg eggs, room temp
1/2 c. whole milk, room temp

1.Preheat oven to 350. Prepare 2 6" pans. Spray with nonstick spray, line with parchment paper, and lightly spray the paper.

2.Sift together flour, baking powder and salt - set aside.

3.Beat butter using the flat beater attachment until soft and creamy - about 2 mins. Add sugar gradually and beat til very light and fluffy, about 3 mins. Scrape down sides of bowl, then beat in vanilla.

4.Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down after each addition, allowing each egg to be fully absorbed before continuing. Add the flour mixture in 4 additions, alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, beating briefly until smooth on low-med speed after each addition.

5. Divide batter evenly between pans and smooth out with an offset spatula. Bake for about 22 mins, or until a toothpick insterted in the center shows moist crumbs. The cake will be tinged with light golden brown around the edges and the top will have begun to come away from the sides of the pan.

6. Cool on racks in pans for 5 mins. Unmold directly onto racks, peel off parchment paper and allow cakes to cool completely.

Alright, I'm still puzzled. Your cake has more flour and less sugar than the recipe I use, but otherwise they are practically identical.

How old is your baking powder? What was the texture like? According to The Cake Bible, larger cakes need less baking powder than smaller cakes. So to convert a 6-inch recipe to 10-inches the amount of baking powder should be reduced. But cakes with too much baking powder usually have coarse grains, and that doesn't sound like your cake.

Was your oven the right temperature? Could it be off by a few degrees? That may have caused the cake to rise less and not have any color.

Just guesses.