You could always stick to your 2" pans, and just collar them to make a deeper cake:
http://cakecentral.com/article43-Collaring-Your-Cake-Pans-Make-A-Deeper-Cake.html
I like my 2" pans. By the time i get done filling and torting they are not quite 5" high... plenty tall enough.
I wouldn't go out and replace all your 2" pans. Like Jackie said, if you need to you can collar them. I use 3" round pans but not for any particular reason. They didn't cost a whole lot more so I thought the taller the better. All of my other pans are 2" though. The only benefit I can think of is that you can make a taller cake by just adding more batter. This is really convenient if you charge by servings. It gives you a little more flexibility.
I have both two and three inch pans. I use them both. For me it really depend on my mood. do I feel like baking one cake and torting or baking two and filling. I dont really have a preference.
The pans I've bought in sets are 2" but I've been buying 3" pans when I buy them seperately. I use the same amount of batter as with the 2" but I like how it bakes up straighter and flatter with the taller pan. Then I have less of a dome, if any to level off. The price difference isn't that much. It seems like the aluminum is a heavier gauge too and I think it makes a difference in how they bake. That's my preference anyway.
I agree that the 3 inch deep pans are a lot better quality, at least the Decorator Preferred ones are. I have the Crown ones also, I don't find them as good.
I agree with Carol Ann that you get a nice shaped cake when you put the amount of cake batter for a 2 inch deep in these 3 inch deep pans. The cake also riser higher and I have tested this out - same amopunt of batter in the same sized 2 inch and 3 inch deep pans, the 3 inch deep pans bakes this higher.
But I think baking these 3 inch cakes in these pans, well they are a lot harder to bake evenly without getting crispy sides, so for some folks this is a drawback.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes
I have both 2" & 3" pans. I was thinking about doing my 3rd wedding cake in the 3" pans. That way I don't have to make 2 cakes just 1!!
I have never torted a 3" cake. Is it just like torting a 2" cake?
I found that the 3" cake was prettier! Don't know why but it was.
Hey Turtle Lady,
Well, it gets a little more difficult when it is a big cake, like a 14 inch. YOu have to be sure to have help sliding the board under the torted layer, or onto a cookie sheet.
I have done 6 inch high, 2 layers of 3 inch pans and this is really neat except that generally, most places use smaller plates for serving cake and well, this can be awkward.
Gee, I think actually that I prefer two layers of cake batter for the two inch layers baked in the 3 inch pans, so you get about 5 inches of cake before you fill, that is a nice height, at least in my opinion. The trend is towards much higher layers these days, I find. The good thing with the 3 inch layers is, you are only baking the one cake for each layer.
Since I broke my shoulder and did some nerve damage to my hand, I find it a lot easier to put two layers together than to torte a 3 inch one, but that is me.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes
Thanks for all your advice...I wasn't thinking so much about "replacing" my 2", just womdering if I should only buy 3" from here on out <grin>
Let me make sure that I am understanding what you are all telling me.....
Let's say, for instance, that I want to make a 2-tier cake...a 6" roun and an 8" round.
If I am understanding right...if I use a 2" pan, you would make 2 layers per tier. But if use a 3", it would bake higher and if you torte that cake made in a 3" would be just as high as 2 cakes made in a 2"?
am I understanding correctly?
Thanks!
2 cakes baked in 2" pans may be just a bit higher than one baked in a 3" pan (torted and filled). That really depends on how much batter you're putting in each pan and how well the recipe rises. In my 8"x3" round, I use an entire box of cake mix. If I were using 2" pans, I'd split the batter in half. The cakes would be very close in size/height.
Well like Lisa said, it really depends on how much the batter rises. Personally I find that with 2, 2 inch layers levelled and filled, I get a 4 inch cake, with a 3 inch levelled, torted and filled, I get a 3 inch high cake. But when I put the amount of batter stated for a 2 inch high pan, only into a 3 inch high pan I get about 1/2 inch higher cake even though the batter amount is the same.
The 3 inch high pans are becoming harder to come by. At one time 2 inch was the standard for many years. Then 3 inch high pans came out and they were the standard. Now a lot of companies are no longer making the 3 inch high pans so they are becoming harder to come by.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes
I was thinking that collaring would work too! Now that I see Jackie has mentioned it...I feel better! 
I have only 2" pans...maybe I will be adventureous and do the collaring sometime!!!
I've never torted. But I can take a 3" pan and add the same amount of batter I'd use for a 2" pan and have a little higher and more level cake. The higher side of the 3" pan just brings the cake higher and thus leaves less of a dome, if any. It's more efficient with less waste for me. No don't replace your 2" pans, as in toss them forever and use new 3" ones instead, but you might consider getting some 3 inchers when you need another pan and see how it works for you. I'm just saying I like the performance better so I'm buying them in 3" whenever I can. And the Decorator Preferred pans Squirrley Cakes mentioned are the heavier guage pans I'm talking about.
I dunno why, but I just prefer 3" pans, no real reason, I just like 'em better.
Yes Carol Ann, that was what I was trying to say, haha, but rather confusedly. The same amount of batter that is required for a 2 inch pan, when placed in a 3 inch pan, actually rises more, but also rises so that it is level, so almost no levelling and it cooks better.
I think the reason why lots of people don't like the 3 inch pans and why they are mostly discontinued by Wilton, is because originally they said you could fill them 3/4 full to get a 3 inch cake. Then a lot of people had trouble getting the centres to bake and so now they say to fill about half full. I find they work best when half or less full than that.
The Decorator Preferred line is a much better quality of aluminum, a much better grade and weight but folks didn't want to pay the prices, I suspect, so they went to the cheaper quality pans and what a shame. There is such a difference in them and now I find that most of the pans just are not of as good a quality.
I would say that if folks have to choose and can only afford one set, go with the 3 inch deep Decorator Preferred, because you can bake either 2 or 3 inch high cakes in them. Otherwise having both types would be handy and honestly, having two of the sizes you use the most, even handier. Not that most of us can fit two of the larger ones in the oven at the same time, but boy, it is nice not to have to wash out the pan to bake the second layer, geesh!
Hugs Squirrelly
I prefer 3 inch pans because I like the extra height in my cakes that this provides - even when I don't use a filling I like the extra height - my boyfriend doesn't like extra fillings so when I make one for us I just use my 8 x 3 and that is a perfect height.
Haha Shugga, what you really want is two layers of the 3 inch high cakes, torted with two layers of filling, yummy! Can you tell that I like my cake and filling and alas, am on a diet and am sitting here drooling at the thought of it! Likely going to short circuit my keyboard!
Hugs Squirrelly
HAHA - that's ok - I told Suzy I licked the screen when I saw her cake on a different post under ganache!
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