Does anyone else have problems with these pans? I bought them hoping I would have better luck getting a 4" cake for the SPS. I just made an 8" chocolate cake and I baked it 10 minutes over what it was supposed to be because the middle was jiggly yet. It was starting to have a burnt smell so I took it out. Crusty outside but after 20 minutes of cooling very gooey center. I used baking strips and a flower nail. I'm thinking maybe I"ll go back to my 2" pans and just torte each layer.

I use them all the time. I bake at 325 for a few minutes longer than it says in the chart it came with, with a flower nail in the center and don't have any trouble with them at all. I do always bake two layers with it to make a single tier, and I only fill the pans up halfway because I don't want them to spill over in the oven.

I have some 3" pans and I've found that I have to bake at a much lower temperature (320 to 325) and bake for a LOOOOONG time.

They take some getting used to.

With my oven at 350, it takes me 1 hr and 20 min to bake one box of cake mix in the 8" x 3" Wilton round with baking strips. I also suspect my oven temp is actually lower than what I set it to.

Ok, thanks,,,I will keep trying until I get it right.

I started using 3" pans when taking Wilton classes so I'd have one fewer cakes to make for just my husband and myself. I too use the flower nail as a heating core and have to bake them longer and my pans are Fat Daddio's but I love the 3" pans anmd use almost nothing else. They are great if you don't need so much cake.

I hate mine too! Even baking on lower temps, with a heating core and baking strips they come out underbaked in the center and hard on the edges. AND that is even after they have been in the oven for about 90 minutes! I know my oven is perfectly calibrated so that's not an issue. Like Texas Rose, I started filling them only half way and baking two layers for each tier. It comes out much better than trying for the full three, and is also a true 2" vs. trying to bake in the actual 2" pan which is usually about 1.5" after it settles.

Depending on how hard the edges are, you can wrap the warm cake in plastic wrap overnight and the edges will soften up. If the edges are burned then of course you wouldn't want to do that, but if the edges just feel tougher than the rest of the cake, then it will work fine. It helps the moisture spread more evenly though the cake.

I bake in the 8x3 alot. I bake at 325, with flower nail and bake even strips and the cakes bake for 50-70 mins depending on how much I put in the pan and which flavor it is.

Thank goodness I read this post. I thought I was the only person in the world that seemed to have a problem with a 3" choc mud cake. Phew! I shall fill it half way up and hopefully that will be the solution.

Thanks for the tip with the cling wrap for a cake that is a bit too hard on the outside to soften it up. Will definitely try that one next time. Cheers

Any time one of my students has trouble with the 8x3 in pan I ask them what cake mix and flavor they use. DH Butter recipe tends to be the one with the biggest issues. That cake sinks almost every time. It is also the one cake mix that I know makes 6cups of batter, which is too much for that pan, but we tend to dump it all in anyway.

I have fond that chocolate mixes tend to make a little more batter than the pan calls for which can cause it to bake longer. Now I usually pull a little bit of it out and make cupcakes with it.

White cake mixes tend to make less so then the cake bakes up a little faster.

I use 8x3 with bake even strips. 325 for 40 minutes and then I check it...then I forget how long it actually bakes for...

that being said I use 2 to make my 4"ish cake (I just level off...) I could be a cake waster. (but my kids love it )

TexasSugar, yes! The DH butter (including the chocolate version) cakes I know to never open the oven until at least 1 hr has passed. Any jiggling before hand causes the whole thing to collapse.

Oh wow! I was aiming to purchase the 3' pan set.Would this be a waste of money?Should I stick with the 2' then?

I've made scratch and doctored box cakes and use 8x 3" pan. I always over fill the pan because I want a decent layer but I'm too darn lazy to bake 2 2" cakes. Never had a problem baking on 325 without the bake strip. But it took a long time. Since I started using a flower nail, the bake time has decreased and I have less of a dome.

I do use the "convection bake" setting on my oven. I don't know if maybe that helps the cake set up better.