All those experts on here, I've got one for you. Today, I was baking three 9 inch butter cakes and because I only have one 9 in pan, I had to do them one at a time. The first cake was done in 38 mins, the second one took 42 mins and the last one took 46 mins total. WHY??? I made the batter at one time and it did sit out until I used it, could that play a part in the varying times?? I'm stumped

It maybe that your oven cooled a bit while opening it with each cake you took out and put back in. I really don't know!

Could've been the oven temp, could've been something as simple as there being a few tablespoons more batter in one compared to the other. I mean, unless you weighed out the batter into three even amounts, you could have small fluctuations. Even using a measuring cup can result in very slight differences. You know, a little drips off the side of the cup and you end up with more in the last pan, etc.