Hi,

I was gifted a 10"x4" Round Cake Pan, and I would like to use it but don't know how much batter I need to make the 10"x4" cake, nor how long to bake it for or what temp so I get a reasonably flat top.

I'm not great at my own cake recipes so I like to use Betty Crocker Cake mixes.

Is anyone able to help? I have a Family birthday next Saturday that I want to make the cake for.

Thanks 

I think a typical baker would make two 2" tall layers instead of one single 4" tall layer. If you actually only want to bake one layer of cake to that height, your challenge is getting it baked all the way through. You would probably need a heating core (some piece of metal to radiate heat through the center of the baking cake).

At work we treat taller pans the same as shorter pans, they get filled with the same amount of batter and produce roughly 2" tall layers. So taller pans just look a little bit emptier.

As for how many boxes of mix, I've never used a mix for that size cake, but I would guess three. You might have some leftover batter but I would rather have extra and know my cakes are tall enough rather than skimp on the layers. For a 10" I'd bake it slow at 325F, or at 325 with a convection/speed bake option if available. It still might dome a bit but if you fill your pans high enough you can just carve it off.

You will have a lot of trouble if you try to bake a cake that deep.  Use 1 to 1.5 boxes of mix per 2" deep 10" round cake. I don't recommend convection for cake. Try 340 for about 24-30 minutes. 

My *original* WASC recipe is perfect for that size pan.  It will NOT bake up to the top of the pan...as others have said it is not advised to bake a cake that deep.  You can use the pan - just don't put more batter in so it does not rise up to the top of the pan.      http://www.cakecentral.com/recipe/7445/the-original-wasc-cake-recipe  Follow the directions for time and temp and you should get a nice, level cake :)  If you make the recipe twice you will have a cake that is 4 to 5" tall.

Thank you all for your helpful advise.

I have pre-baked my cake using 2 mixes on 285 (140C) using Fan-bake for about 1hr then increased to 300(150C) for approx. 15mins (forgot to note times). It appears to have worked ok....hopefully it's not too dry on outside :-/.....won't know until we cut into it.

Don't forget that it's perfectly acceptable to carve off the browned bits on the outside of your cake before decorating. Good luck.

And if it does seem dry by tasting the cake that is cut off when you level it then you can spray or lightly brush it w/simple syrup.