When you bake in 3 inch deep pans, do you bake two separate layers or torte and consider it good? My cakes never seem to come out to 4 inches tall.
Rachel
I always torte and consider it good. with the filling and then the frosting its always a nice height and i recently started after learning from here to take a towel and push down on my cakes to level it in the pan and since i dont have to cut off any cake to level its much taller.
i do what sundine2 said but sometimes if the edges of the cake is not level with the top edge of the pan i just push the middle down until its level with the ends of the cake itself. hope that makes sense but the whole point is to push down whatever part of the cake that isnt level to make it level.
My Wilton instructor told us to do this also (with the warm cake and towel) but I've been afraid that I would ruin the cake, so I always level my cakes but then they are too short. I bought the bake even strips but haven't used them yet, do they really even out the cakes? or does the towel method work better still?
I think it changes the density of the cake. I do it the second it comes out of the oven if I am going to use that method. Sad thing is -no cake tops-no cakeballs 
Yeah, it does make it more dense, but I think it makes it easier to decorate and easier to stack. Depending on what the cake is going to be used for I flatten it with a pan and towel or level the top off. I have an angel food cake next weekend and I won't be smushing that.
It really doesn't change the density of the cake. It is already baked. But it does even the cake out. Sorry no more cake balls if the cake is only a little off. But if there is a large hump you may get a few balls then. 
Yes i find that it is a bit more dense but it does still tastes great. I do this as soon as i take the cake out of the oven. becareful though not to touch the pan itself, i burned myself a few times. I know what you guys mean about the scraps but i guess we should be greatful that our waistline wont be expanding with each cake. 
FUNNY I ALWAYS TOWEL AND TORTE. NO WONDER I DON'T GET THE HEIGHT I WANT. THANKS ALL FOR THE LESSON 
MY FAMILY DON'T NEED ANY CAKE SCRAPS I LIKE THE IDEA OF USING EVERYTHING 
When you bake in 3 inch deep pans, do you bake two separate layers or torte and consider it good? My cakes never seem to come out to 4 inches tall.
Rachel
Well, I think I do it totally different. I use only 2" pans and I fill them up about 1/2 of the pan then bake. I do about 3 cakes like this, then I do not torte, just add the filling in between this layers (cakes) and stack like this. This way I can decide how tall I want a cake. I usually like them to be at least 4" tall so I use about 3 cakes. Also, it depends on the customer and how tall they want it. HTH but I know I do it totally different than everybody else. 
I dont think you can expect a 3 inch cake torted to become 4 inches anyway! that would mean a full inch of filling. I think if you want a 4 inch cake you would be better off baking two 2 inch layers.
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