I'm not a "baker".. so I have the worst time with baking my cakes. So this question never occured to me till last night when I was reading posts on CC.
How many cakes can go into a regular oven to bake at the same time? I only put one 10" or above in at once. Then 2-8" in at the same time. Can you have 2 cakes on top shelf & some on the bottom too? I've never tried putting more cakes in at the same time but would love to know the answer to this question. Anything to save time & aggravation when I'm baking would be a plus!! I can't wait to see the responses to this!!
I baked 2 10" last week for the first time and it seemed to work out ok.
2 8" or 9" and one 6" fit
as does 2 6" and one 8" or 9"
1 12x18 is about as big as I think I'll do.
(for size reference, my oven is 24" wide and about 20" deep) ha! and i just stuck my hand into a hot oven to measure that! I might need some cake counseling 
)
Those are the sizes I do most. I haven't tried baking them stacked yet - but have done that with cookies and switched racks half way through. They take longer to bake then.
Was curious about this too. If I put too cakes in does the lower cake cook more quickly? I have never tried before. I just do one cake at a time and make the frosting, decorations, etc for it while it cooks.
I was curious too. I have 2-10 inch and 2-6 inch cakes in the oven right now. I will let you know how it turns out.
czyadgrl... don't burn yourself!! Thanks for your tips on this! My Mom says that as long as there is a few inches between the pans & the inside on the oven then you can bake a few at a time. I still want to know about putting cakes at the bottom
crumbs.. I thought that the bottom cakes cooks faster too. I don't want to stand by the oven babysitting my cakes that's why I haven't tried putting mroe then 2 in at a time. I do like you do, do other stuff while the cakes are baking. I am fixin' to bake 2 8" cakes today... maybe I'll try them in the oven at the same time... They are for my fondant/gumpaste class so if they mess up it's no biggy.
I wonder if it lowers the temp?? Questions, questions!
Cool Momof4! Your the brave tester!! Can't wait to hear how long it took & how they turn out~
Okay, I have 2 cakes on the top layer and 2 cakes on the bottom layer. The time has passed for the 6 inch cakes to be ready. They looked done, but could have stood a little while longer, but I took them out and cut the tops off and flipped them onto the cooling rack, and they look a little light to me. Now I changed the position of the 10 inches to finish them off. I hope they look better. I would hate to have to start over. I wanted to know if I could get all the layers to this cake done at one time.
I do know that the fuller your oven the longer you will have to bake. You also run the risk of items not baking evenly unless you do a lot of rotating or switching around such as front to back - top to bottom, etc. For that reason alone and because I don't want to risk ingredients and time, I only have done a 9" and a 10" on the same middle rack! Took 55 minutes to bake!
We're both trying to save some time aren't we Momof4? It sounds like we will have to babysit the cakes in order for them to come out right. Keep us posted! I'm getting off CC now so I can get my cakes started~
Ok this proves it... I'm bored out of my mind!! I'm taking pictures of everything today! LOL
I put 4 cakes in the oven at once on the same rack. I did 2-2"deep/8"round, 1-3"deep/6"round, 1-3"deep/8"round (the 3" cakes were Magic Line & the 2" were Wilton.. I like Magic Line better any day!!) I had them in the oven the same way I took the pic
2- 2"deep 8" round (butter pecan)
1-3" deep 6" round (butter pecan)
They took 43 min to bake at 350*
The 3" deep 8" round (carrot cake) took a few more min & was done in 49 min.
See how pretty the 8" Magic Line turned out & how the Wilton cracked? It was also unlevel before I took the pic. The Magic Line one was level when it came out~ Big difference huh? After I looked at the pic again.. I probably could have taken the 3" out... it has a few dark spots on it. Like I said... I'm not a baker! 
I can get two 10" (round or square), side by side on one rack in my oven. If they are round, I can squeeze a 6" or 8" in the front-center of them.
I can get a 12", 8" and 6" on one rack. (Maybe another 6" if I work it right).
I don't bake double-rack with cakes. I do with cookies.
So why don't you double-rack? Would the heat not be even thoughout the oven?
tc- the heat won't be even because you have different elements interfering with the distribution of heat. Let's say you have a baking sheet of cookies on the mid-upper rack and one on the mid-lower racks of you oven, the sheets upset the "flow" of heat to either baking sheet. Think reflecting foil in the windshield of your car - keeps the car cooler because it reflects the heat away and shields the interior. Baking sheets will do the same thing; they keep the maximum amount of heat from circulating. Of course, this theory doesn't apply to convection ovens that move the air around the oven. IF you do double-rack anything in a regular oven, you need to redistribute the pans so they all bake evenly.
christeena, very true. Let me clarify what I do. I put cookie sheet #1 on the middle rack. Halfway thru the baking, I put cookie sheet #2 on the bottom rack. When #1 is done, I rotate cookie sheet #2 up to the middle rack and put #3 on the bottom rack. So even tho' I am double-rack baking, I am rotating the baking sheets so none of them are always on the bottom and therefore not always right over the direct heat.
tc - this is what is different in a regular oven vs. a convection oven. A convection is designed to evenly distribute the heat to all levels (all racks) in a even manner.
I don't want to sound ugly but I know what a convection oven is 
LOL! I'm just not a very good baker.
I rotate my cookie sheets when I'm baking too I forgot to rotate them one time & they browned in some places & burnt in other places. So I always rotate now. 
I understand the heating thing. I sure don't want to babysit my cakes during baking & looks like I'll have to if I put more then a few cakes in at a time 
no fun there~
Thanks Ladies!
I didn't intend to insult your intelligence, tc! I'm sure you are not the only person following this thread that wonders why double-racking is such a tricky thing to do. And some people might not understand convection vs. regular ovens. Just trying to be helpful to everyone- not a know-it-all!! Please forgive me!
Actually, baking is my least favorite part of cake decorating and if I could have someone else do the baking for me, I would!! Babysitting, cookies or cakes is a royal pain!
I didn't feel insulted Christeena, sorry, I evidently made you feel like I was. No need for an apology. Girl, I wasn't calling you a know-it-all either. Believe me if I was insulted & thought you were a know-it-all I would have said that You did help! Thanks for posting to my questions! FRIENDS!!! Baking is my least favorite too!! Well maybe torting is a close runner up... Now that I can ice & smooth pretty darn good I have new problems! Doesn't it always work like that? 
Oooh, I hate torting!! Almost more than baking the darn cakes!! I can get the top part off but after I fill and want to place it back over the filling, it's sheer torture to make sure that filling and cake stay where it belongs!! WHY can't our obsessions come without problems!!??
I wish I knew that answer too! When I torte I can never line the cakes up right.. I even put icing on each 1/2 of the cake before I torte like my Wilton instructor taught me... it never works!! Torting & baking are pains! I would rather make roses then do those things & when I do roses it kills my fingers, hand, & wrist & I nearly go crossed eyed from having the dowel up so close to my face so I can see what I'm doing. The things we do!! Go figure!!
I pretty much cram as much as possible in the oven when I'm baking. I bought 2 of each pan that would fit in the oven together. I can do up to 12" round 2 at a time. I do a ton of 6" squares for baby blocks, and can do 6 of those at a time. 2 11x15 sheets fit too. My largest pan is a 14x22 sheet, and that takes up the whole oven. I only bake on a center rack, but have put cupcakes or something on the bottom and they don't rise as much as when they are on the middle rack.
Wow, Katherine, you must have a ton of cake pans!! I hope to have more than 1 of each size I work with someday!! Everytime I go to order on CC when they have pans on sale, they are sold out! The most I have put on the center rack in my oven are 2 - 8" and 1 - 6".
I do have to bake longer but I bake at 325 with Magic Line and I have NEVER had any doming or cracking of my cakes. They always bake flat and level!
I just did 2 10 inchers on the same rack yesterday. They werent touching, but close together. The sides closest to eachother rose more than the other side. Not a big deal though. I dont put different size cakes (needing different baking times) together because I am afraid to open the oven and have them fall, which happens a lot with the 3 inch deep pans I find!
When torting- especially a larger cake- I put a 'registration mark' on the side of each layer with a toothpick dipped in food color so the layers line up. I don't use a leveler- hate them!- so if my torting leaves an indent in an area or one end thinner than the other, it is lined back up when reassembled. The filling helps level things off too, but I've found this simple little step saves a lot of frustration later with uneven layers.
Caryl - this is off topic but I was wondering as to what breed the cat (it is a cat, isn't it?) was in your avatar? Those eyes are the saddest thing I've seen for awhile. What a little fluff ball!! Adorable!
I once tried to do 2 9X13 pans side by side in the oven, and the sides facing in were much higher than the sides facing out. Does that make sense? You know how you always have a hump in the middle? well it kinda cooked both cakes as if they were one. It was weird. Won't do that again. But I bake 3 8" cakes together on the same rack all the time and have no problems.
I am soo jealous of you all. 
I miss the range I had at my old house. In my current place my built in oven is only 17x17. Can barely get 2-9" on one rack. That is the most i've done. I either have to move... get a bigger oven or use those 1/2 size cake pans when I want to do the larger sizes. 
Judi
I am so glad for my new oven. My old one burned everything so I was to scared to do more than 1 8" round at a time so I would not wreck 2 cakes but only one. For those that said they had a hump on the sides that were facing inside could you turn the cakes around 1/2 way through the baking time that you have set? Just and idea. Wonder if that would work for you or not!!
Christeena... LOL, yes I do have cake pans coming out of my ears!!! I need someone to just stand at the sink and wash them as fast as I can use them.
I also have the issue with the cakes rising higher at one side when cakes are baked side by side. My personal justification for that is that all of the weight from the pans makes the rack sag just a slight bit and so the side of the pan toward the center of the oven tends to be thicker than the outside edge. Just my theory.
I've screwed up enough cakes that I just DON'T double rack anymore, ever. I just wait patiently for the cakes to finish and as soon as the temperature is adjusted I get the next one in the oven. Thus, the reason I, too, have several cake pans
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