I've not been happy with the finished cake when using Wilton's recommended amount of batter, and have been using a bit extra or even not measuring at all and just eye-balling the amount. By using bake-even strips, nails, and compressing the cake little leveling has been necessary although I do a little. Wondering what my fellow CC'ers are doing that works best for them?
Hi. Most of the recipes I use tell me how many of what size pan can be filled with a particular batter recipe. Then I just divide it evenly and "eyeball" it, and haven't had a problem. A few of my books suggest filling pans no more than 1/2 to 2/3's full, although I haven't done that too often (or recently) to let you know how it worked out for me. If you have other bake books, or can get to a book store, check out the suggested amounts of batter per pan so you can try something different. (Hopefully you'll get LOTS of ideas from here, though!) Best of luck! 
I never used to. But I had my first wedding cake to make (still in progress - due for Saturday!) and figured I should get myself more "exact" and measured for each layer. I ended up with beautiful level, even layers.
I had found this thread:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-22705-.html
and used the Duncan Hines measurements given by alicia_froedge - worked great for me.
I don't measure mine either. I just eyeball it and have gotten pretty good at it. I rarely have to shave any off.
I measue my batter, but that's just because I base my prices on how much batter and icing goes into the cakes. I've had to tweak the Wilton meausrements a bit too.
But if I didn't charge for these cakes, I'd just eyeball it!! One less thing to wash!!
I measure my batter because I really like to be as consistant as possible. I do use the Wilton Chart with a few modifications. I also have these really great handled measuring cup spoons that make it a breeze...They are in 1 Cup and 1/2 Cup measures and I think I got them from Weight Watchers about 8 years ago, but my restaurant supply store had some similar ones too. Love them.
yes and no....
when i am first using a cake recipe i measure how much batter the recipe creates....
i write it onto the actual recipe and use that as a gauge as to how many recipes i might need for a __ by __ pan.....
when it comes to filling my pans? no, i rarely measure THAT. i do somewhere between half and 2/3....
I weigh my batter. I bake all my cakes on one day of the week, so I have to calculate how much batter it takes to make X number of cakes. Then, I like to be as precise as possible so I have enough. I also like to fill like sized pans with the exact same amount of batter so they'll be done at roughly the same time.
Since switching to Magic Line pans, I find the Wilton chart pretty much useless. I've developed my own chart.
I do, but usually make it a "heaping" cup instead of a level cup full.
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