sno- i actually had him early! I need to change my sig line! He's two weeks old already, Lots of sleepless nights and staying on CC while the baby is eating! Hubby wakes up and I'm sitting in bed feeding Jackson with my computer in my lap! ;] At least I get to keep up with CC!

I was at our family reunion this past weekend and my cousin does catering and bakes ALL the time. She said she baked 78 cakes from Nov 2 to Dec 2 last year. That's alot of cakes.
She told me to the cake mixes, she adds one more egg than the recipe calls for, ex. if it calls for 3 eggs she adds 4.
Instead of water she uses whole milk no 2% for her and adds about 1/4 cup more than it calls for.
She calls beats the daylights out of it! She said it will change texture. She used 2 box mixes for a 14 layer chocolate cake..

I want her chocolate icing recipe so far it's a secret.
I'vr got my eggs coming to room temp right now gonna give it a try.

I just bought a wilton pan today
I only have one Magic Line (a 6") but when I went back to the same store to get the 10" I needed, all the had was square... so my only other option was to go to Wal-Mart.
And let me tell you, I was disappointed about spending that $8.
The cake is in the oven now, and I really hope that it rises as tall as it needs to. Fingers crossed!

Also, I read a trick that someone runs batter around the sides of the pan, so that the batter has something to climb up as it cooks, and it will be more even and taller?
I'm not sure if it really works or not, but I'm testing it out now. Has anyone else had success with this method?

I used to be frustrated with inconsistencies in the size of my layers/feeling that they weren't an appropriate height. I started using a batter capacity sheet that fat daddio has on the web. It gives you the amount of batter that should go in each pan. This is helpful for me and I feel like my layers are nicely sized now.

iF YOU WANT A REALLY TALL CAKE WITH OUT HAVEING TO BACK 2, USE THE 4 INCH PAN. yOU CAN WRAP FOIL AROUND THE PAN IF YOU LIKE, BUT NOT REQUIRED. bAKE AT 325 FOR 1 HR...COMES OUT FULL AND NICE AND EVEN EVERY TIME. vERY LITTLE, IF ANY LEVELING.

Ginger, so you mean you only have one tall 4" layer?

We've used all types of pans----the "unserious" pans to the "unserious" Wilton pans and recently bought some small (4") Fat Daddio pans...I think we're going to place an order at the ICES convention in San Diego for Fat Daddio...For us, we just use a baking spray, lay in a piece of parchment cut to the dimension of the bottom of the pan, and bake....Once the cake is released from the pan, we peel away the parchment...

As far as the tall cakes, some people have even done 6" tiers where they've torted and filled 3 two inch high cakes....That would be where you've seen some thin and "normal" tiers and then even taller tiers.

HTH

Paul

Yes, I have one 4" layer. Buy when I cut in 3rds and fill it ends up about 5 to 6 ' thick. I just hate baking 2 and having to put together. Unless I am making a pool table or something high like that.