I have made German Chocolate cake three times from the same recipe. The recipe calls for 2 cups of cake flour, 4 extra large eggs (separated), 1 tsp. of baking powder, etc. I looked at other recipes and they all had the same ingredients, except one had a 1/4 cup more flour. I bake them in 3-9"pans as the recipe states but each time after baking, the layers shrink down to 7 3/4". Has anyone else had this issue? I appreciate any tips or recipes you may have to eliminate this problem so I can get true 9" layers.

make more batter -- if it was me i'd double that recipe to produce a  9" cake -- be sure you are winding out the eggs really good -- beating them really well

...but àlso be sure you're not over baking 

and another thought -- don't grease the pan -- use a parçhment çircle on the bottom and after baking run a knife around the edge to loosen -- the batter can cling/climb the edges better -

best to you

is your oven too hot? consider getting an oven thermometer if you don't already have one

K8memphis, thank you for replying. I think it would be a good idea in the future to double the recipe. I do usually use PAM baking spray and it generally works well for releasing cakes but I will try the parchment paper next time.

I think my oven temp is fine. I have about 20 different cake recipes on my menu and only 2 give me a problem with shrinkage; the other one being my Key Lime cake recipe. I do bake the German Chocolate at 350, maybe I could drop it down to 325? I also thought about adding a 1/2 cup more flour or doing a combination of cake flour and all-purpose. I'll just have to take time and play with the recipe and see what works best. Thanks for your advice!

Often when a cake shrinks it has too much liquid -- you don't m;ention any liquid but maybe try reducing it a few tablespoons. Over all, I agree w/K8 you probably need more batter.  

Definate you can lower you oven temp.   I bake my cakes at 300 for 20 minutes (for a one mix cake) then turn the oven up to 325 for about an equal amount of time.  I always get a nice, level, moist cake. 

kakeladi, thanks for replying. My german chocolate and key lime cake both have a high liquid to dry ingredient ratio. The liquids are 1 c. buttermilk and 1/2 c. hot water which is added to the finely chopped german baking chocolate. But again, most the other german chocolate recipes were the same way. Though they shrink they still come out very moist. I will try to bake them at a lower temp or maybe just melt the baking chocolate without the hot water to see if I have better results. Thanks for your advice!