Hi, I am fairly new to this. I can't find answers to these questions anywhere. I will be making a two tiered cake for a birthday party at the end of this month. It will be a 6" round with a 9" round underneath.
I want each tier to be two or three layers. What is the most common (or what do YOU like to do?), dividing your batter between two cake pans and coming out with two thick layers, or dividing your batter between three cake pans and coming out with three thinner layers? The only way I don't want to do it, is making two layers and torting them for four layers.

I wanted to use the WASC recipe for the 6" layer, and had read somewhere that half the recipe makes 3 6" layers filled 2/3 of the way full in 2" tall pans. If I wanted to make the same height of each layer for the 9" tier, would I use any recipe and also fill the pans 2/3 of the way full to get the same height?
I was planning on making the chocolate cake recipe from the back of the hershey's cocoa tin for the 9". Wouldn't all recipes rise differently, so would filling ALL the pans (9"'ers and 6"ers) 2/3 of the way full even equal out to the same height?
Last question, should I buy 2" cake pans or 3" cake pans???? Which one will get more use out of it in the long run? Nowhere can I tell if people are using the 2" pans or the 3" pans.

I guess to sum it up, if you were making a two tiered cake with a 6" on the top and a 9" on the top, which pans would you use adn how many of each and how full would you fill them? I see pictures everywhere of two tiered cakes that the poster says are 6" and 9" but doesn't tell me how many layers are inside, or what the height of each finished layers is...

PS I will be covering the cakes in fondant. Thanks!!!

I can only speak for myself on this....I use 2 inch deep pans - I just don't see a lot of the 3 inch deep pans around my area, but the 2 inch are readily available. I never torte my cakes - I use a solid two layers, I find it's easier for me when stacking, because you don't have so much icing and filling. And, quite frankly, I don't like to have to torte, unless it's a must. I have found when baking that all cake recipes rise to a different level, regardless of how you fill the pans. However, that might be the high altitude I'm baking at as well. It kind of sounds like your main concern is the uniformity of the cakes, right? I haven't had that be much of an issue for me, regardless of what recipe I'm using. HTH

I would use the 2" pans and overfill slightly. While baking your cake will rise above the top of the pan. When the cakes are done let them cool slightly in the pan. Take a long, sharp knife and cut off the part that rose above the pan. the top edge of your pan is your guideline to cut straight across. This allows you to get rid of the crunchy edge (best snacking pieces but not so good in a finished cake!) and will leave you with layers that are all even heights! Hope that helps!!

Keri... if you're layers were to come out one a whole lot taller than the other, say because you were making two different tiers using two different recipes and one recipe rose higher than the other, what would you do? Just trim MORE off the tops (more than just the bumps) of those higher layers to get them to match the other layers?
So on your cakes you just go with the two thick layers per tier which would mean only one layer of filling per tier?
How full do you usually fill your pans? The standard 2/3 full in a 2"?

hmm... let see if I can at least tell you what I do. And here is a link to a 6" and 9" cake that I did recently, the following is what I did for it (and all of my cakes actually) http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1628878

i prefer 2" pans, instead of 3". I like 4.5"-5" tall cakes. So for this cake I baked 2 - 6" cakes and 2 - 9" cakes, I fill my pans using this wilton chart as a reference for how many cups go into each pan. (i always measuer by cups of batter and not by recipe, since each recipe makes a different amount of batter) - and this usually fills the pans about 2/3 of the way, which should give you a cake that rises above the sides of the pan.
http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-wedding-cake-2-inch-pans.cfm

Once the cakes are cooled I then trim them all to the same height (i use the small wilton leveler and leave it on the same notch to cut them all to the same height - typically they are cut to 1-3/4" tall to get all of the dome off) If i used the cakes as is I would have 2 layers of cake with one layer of filling in between. Sometimes (and for the cake shown) I will cut these layers in half again, so I now have 4 layers of cake that are about 7/8" tall for 6" and 9" diameters. This will give me 4 layers of cake and 3 layers of filling.

Now if you were using 3" pans (which btw, 2" and 3" pans is just a personal preference on how you like to do your cakes, there is no right or wrong way) you could bake one layer, trim it to 3" tall, and then cut it twice in the middle so you have 3 - 1" (or there about) layers, and then you would have 2 layers of filling.

I hope i covered all of your questions, and if not, ask again

edited to add the links I forgot.