I usually bake round layers, and will do two two-inch layers per tier. Generally I get layers a little over two inches, so my tier will end up being closer to four and a half inches tall.

So I just got square Magic Line pans (which I am SO excited to use!), three inches tall. When I bake with my three-inch round pan, I can kind of go either way, depending on the cake, and use only the one large layer or bake an additional two-inch layer for the tier (and in that case, get a pretty generous tier). But I only have one set of square ML pans in this case, and want to figure the best way to do this: should I bake one layer for each tier, nice and tall, and level it to three inches, leaving my tiers at three inches each, or should I bake a little shorter and stack as usual?

If it makes a difference, the cake I'm baking this time is a classic square three-tier cake ... I'm thinking I'm probably going to have to go ahead and bake twice with shorter layers, but I wanted to get others' opinion on the matter. Is three inches too short for a tier?

Sorry for making this so wordy! Thanks for any ideas!

-Emi.

If you want to get more height and dont want to bake more you could collar your pans with parchment paper and get a 4 inch high cake. I do this for topsy-turvys so I can use the one cut method. Just make sure you lower the temp in your oven cause it will have to bake for alot longer. HTH! Good Luck!

Oooohhhhh!!! I love that idea!!! I've never collared my pans before, but that would be awesome! I usually bake at 325 anyway ... how long would you go for a 4in-collared 12in square? And I would probably need a flower nail anyway, right?

Thanks so much for your help! I love this site so much!

I am not sure on the exact time but I would set a timer for about 1 hour, and then just check in 5-10 minute intervals after that. Yeah, using a flower nail would be good, but your cake will probably rise over it pretty quick, so I am not sure it would help too much?? I am not sure on that one. I have noticed that when I bake at 325 instead of 350, my cakes dont rise as much anyways. You could use some bake-even strips on the outside if you dont use a flower nail. If you don't have any you can make your own by tearing up pieces of a towel and soak in water and wrap around the side of the pan, then cover that in aluminum foil. It works great! I hope I havent confused you!!!

Thanks so much for your help! I haven't used baking strips yet, but will go on U-tube in a minute to look for videos of how to do this ...
Thanks so much for your suggestions!

-Emi.

The flower nail helps even if the cake rises over it. It's still directing heat to the center of the cake.

Personally I would bake twice and still use the flower nails.

Do you say you would bake twice because it's hard to get a nice tall cake? I've had good success in the past baking in a 4-in pan (never collared a 3-in before), as long as it wasn't with a chocolate cake, which tends to be more delicate in the "sinking-in-the-middle" sense if I'm not careful. I'll take all suggestions! I would rather not have to bake twice, but I certainly don't want to ruin anything by cutting corners.

The reason I'd bake twice is just that I don't have good luck when I try to do things to save time. Some people do, but I end up with cake that's tough around the edges, or cake volcano in my oven (complete with smoke! )

Maybe try first on the smallest tier and if it doesn't work well, you'll know before you get to the bigger ones.