Hello everyone and thanks for taking the time to read this. I "think" I know what happened here but wanted to get a more experienced persons opinion.
I just made my favorite yellow cake (Beranbaum Yellow Downy Butter Cake). I have never had problems with this cake before.

A fellow cake person donated all of her wedding cake pans to me so I wanted to use them. I chose the 8"X3" pan which is deeper than what I am used to. Usually I use a 9"X2" pan.
This recipe says it makes 2 - 9"X 1 1/2" cakes.

Well...I dumped all the batter in that one 3" pan and the center sunk horribly

I am guessing that that was way too much batter for that pan? I have to make three more layers to this cake and wanted some feedback before I keep baking.

Thanks!
Sherry

I have that problem in the 3 inch pans - and I tend to overfill I would fill the 3 inch pan just halfway. And are you using baking strips and a flower nail core? I know many people here don't think you need both for a small pan like this but I use both on every pan I have - if they rise more evenly and are mostly level in the oven, they seem to collapse less (or at least more uniformly) once they are out.

Thanks for the reply. I just baked another cake in that pan and only filled half way. It still sunk a little in the middle. I don't have the nail but I suppose if I am going to use these pans I will have to get one.
How frustrating....I really wanted this cake to be perfect

I have never used a 3" pan, but whenever I am making any cake over 8" (some say 10") I use the flower nail. It will distribute the heat more evenly, and you will get a lot better results. I once baked a cake in an aluminum bowl to make an igloo for a cake my daughter made, it took a long while to bake on 325 degrees and with flower nail. But it did bake, and it was very moist. I thought for sure that after baking that long it would be all dried out, but it wasn't. My advice would be to only fill the pan 1/2 full and use the flower nail or a heating core. Although you can barely tell you used a flower nail when it's finished.

You only need 5 cups of batter for the 8x3 in pan. I'm gonna take a guess and say that you used too much batter and it wasn't able to cook completely.

I do use a flower nail, like described above in my 3in pan since I find it helps bake it more eveningly and I do the bake even strips and turn the temp down to 325. It usually takes the 8x3 about an hour to 1:15 in my oven to bake.

Thanks everyone for the great info. I will get a nail for the next time I use these pans and probably the strips too.
I swear this is just not a good cake day for me. I made a tiara for the top of the cake and I just broke it...what next???

Oh wait..I better not ask that...lol

I am a firm believer that when one thing goes wrong other things do. For me it is one of those all of nothing things. Cakes either go really well or it is a challenge from beginning to end.

Hopefully you did not throw out the cake. It would probably make great cake balls. There is info on CC about cake balls if you don't know about them. They're the best. As far as the baking strips there was a Youtube video that showed how you can make it yourself. You take a heavy bath towel and cut a strip the length you need to go around the pan and the height of the pan. Wet them really well in cold water and then use a large straight pin to secure the end of the towel. I used it for the first time and thought it worked pretty good (and a lot less expensive). The bottom of the towel where it hits the oven shelf did burn a little, but I don't think it's anything to be concerned about. I also overfilled an 8" pan by only 1 cup and it was not good. Oh well, cake balls.

Hopefully this was helpful.