I want to make a 3 tier cake but I am unsure what is the best way to bake it. I know the tiers will be done at different times. The layers will be 5-7-9 inches. Any help would be appreciated

Put as many as you can on one rack, making sure you have plenty of air circulation between the pans.

Bake until done (i.e. the toothpick test). I never use a timer anymore, so I'm no help there. I can smell when they're done. But test them as you would any other cake.

Easy Peasy!

So you have 6 pans you're baking in right? You can shove them all in at once, and rotate if need be, or split them up. I might be tempted to bake the 5s on the top rack with the 7s on bottom and the 9s by themselves...but probably not. I would probably just shove them all in. Make sure your 5s are closer to the door so you can get them out first. I open and close my oven door so many times thru the baking process and never have issues of falling or sinking or other probs people say will happen. I'm pretty quick with it though and don't dawdle in the oven. Open, take out, shut right away.

some on here will tell you to bake the same sized pans together and to not mix pan sizes. and ideally, that would be great, but sometimes i don't have the time to do that. i will bake a 6 and a 12 at the same time if need be. i rotate the cakes and move from top shelve to bottom if i notice any unever baking (i'm very careful during this process to not bang the pan, as the center will drop). i just pull out the different sized cakes whenever they are done...never had an issue!

i must say that i consider it an honor to be agreed with by you indydebi i love your advice on here...it's real and practical!

Hi and Congrats on your 1st post, cakeittothelimit.

Everything you need to know to make, decorate and assemble tiered/stacked/layer cakes:

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-605188-.html

Above super thread has popular CC recipes for crusting American buttercreams, several types of fondant and doctored cake mix (WASC and other flavor variations) - and so much more.

There's lots of baking help, info & photos for cake assembly methods and hints & tips for smoothing, etc.

HTH

Thanks for all the great tips! I made the cake and it turned out great. I guess I learned the best way is just to keep checking them.