Do any of you measure the amount of batter you put in a pan, or do usually "eyeball" it? I was looking at the Wilton chart and it tells you the amount of batter you need to fill the pan. I was just wondering if any of you actually get out a measuring cup and fill the pan to that specification! I find that my cakes aren't always consistently the same height, maybe this would help!

Do you bake from scratch or with cake mixes?

If you do scratch I would say next time you do your favorite recipes measure out the batter and make a note of it. Not all recipes make the same amount of batter, so that could play a factor in one cake being bigger than the next.

For cake mixes the different brands and flavors make different amounts. If you are a fan of one brand then I would measure out the flavors you use alot of and make a note of it. A white cake mix from BC does not make the same amount as a chocolate cake mix. The chocolate tends to make more, and to me rises more.

I don't measure every time I fill a cake pan, I just eyeball it, but this will give you an idea of what the different recipes and mixes are yielding. It will also let you know if you need to mix up one or two cake mixes to get enough to fill the pans to the correct amount.

I use a 1/2 cup measure ice cream scoop and scoop out a certain number per pan! I have kept track of how many scoops per recipe I can get as well as how many scoops needed in any particular pan.

I always measure. I have a chart I use. Most of the time, because I really hate torting, I bake three layers instead of two and don't torte them. For the serving charts to be correct, you need to have the cake be 4" tall. If I didn't measure, I'd either not have enough cake - or have too much and end up cutting them to height. Just saves me time and work to measure. Although I've learned which recipes I use bake higher, and have learned to adjust them some to get very close to the 4" now.

Thank you! I guess I have a little experimenting to do. I know about how high up my batter goes in the pan to get a good height. So next time I'll use a measuring cup to see about how many cups of batter it is. That way, when I need to fill another pan for the same cake, I can just use the amount of cups instead of eyeballing it!

I only measure because I find it to be quicker and no guess work.

I know that when I use chocolate cake batter for my 6" pan it takes 4 scoops. Some days I might overfill one pan and underfill another, while the overfilled pan won't matter.........underfilling another cake turns out to be a pain!! Then I have to either bake another thin layer or torte the daylights out of it! It's just easier to measure and when using a scoop it's quick and not messy either!

I, like Debi, *never* measure. I have learned over the years how many mixes fill each pan. Each pan is filled 2/3rds full of batter which make the perfect amount for a 2" layer of cake.