So I'm making my first wedding cake in 2 weeks and my question is, should I make sheet cakes and cut the cakes to the sizes I need? For example, I am making a 4 tiers cake - 12, 10, 8, 6. I have the 4 tier Wilton cake pan set but I find when I bake with them (for example ill bake one 6" cake, wait for the pan to cool, and bake a second 6" cake to layer on top) one layer is wider than the other and I'm stuck carving the sides. So I'm wondering if it would just be easier to make sheet cakes and cut them to the size I need and layer them from there to the right height? So sorry for the confusing question, just thought I'd see if any of you experts could tell me how you normal bake a thick tiered bake. Thanks so much for the help!

I would worry about the cake drying out that way...maybe it might be worth investing in another set of pans so you can bake both at the same time? Otherwise I would just stick with trimming the sides, or filling in with buttercream. I hope that helps! It's a good idea though! I've done it with mini cakes and it worked great except for the dryness.

Cutting down a sheet cake makes sense for mini sizes, sure, or for some complex shapes that are too hard to assemble out of normal cake pan shapes/sizes, but for a regular tiered wedding cake I can't imagine how cutting circles out of sheet cakes would be easier than baking rounds in the right size and shape pans. Not to mention how much waste you'd have from the sheets!

It does speed things up if you have two pans of each size so that you can bake both layers at the same time, but when you are using the very same pan for both layers, how are you getting such a noticeable size mismatch? That just seems strange to me. Normally they might not be perfectly even but the difference is minor enough that the frosting fills and smooths over it, and there shouldn't be any need to carve down the sides! The only time I've had to do much of that kind of trimming is when I'm making do with pans that are nominally the same size, but are different brands and thus not really identical.

Holly

I have heard that Wilton pans aren't good but still, two cakes baked in the exact same pan should be the same size! If the sides are slanty then you'd have to trim off the slant but the basic size should still be the same...?! I still think that is just weird.

Holly

I have the Wilton 3" deep pans (still bake two layers for each tier) and they don't have that problem. The only time I ever end up with a size difference is in the larger tiers, if it takes a few more minutes to test done, the one that is baked longer shrinks more when it's cooling.

I don't have the 4 tier set the OP is referencing, but I do notice on some of my Wilton pans (the 11X15 for instance) that the pan tapers. So if you have two layers that need to be stacked, you have a wider middle or a sort of tapered in middle (depending on which way you stackd them).

Thanks so much for your replies. I do have two sets of Wilton pans but they seem to be a bit off in size. I think I'll just take the time and use one set and bake them one at a time. Thanks for helping me make the decision to not sheet cake/carve this cake, after reading your responses I totally agree that this is not a good idea!

Thanks so much for your replies. I do have two sets of Wilton pans but they seem to be a bit off in size. I think I'll just take the time and use one set and bake them one at a time. Thanks for helping me make the decision to not sheet cake/carve this cake, after reading your responses I totally agree that this is not a good idea!

When I started buying 2 inch pans, I made sure I bought 2 of each size. I increased that amount as time went on. I now have enough pans to supply a small army I'm sure! Having extra pans of each size is a big time saver and a lot easier as you're not washing pans between baking.

One thing I noticed when first buying wilton pans, is, if the number on the bottom of the pans don't match, your layers willl not match. At least not identical.
The six incher that come in the wilton sets is different that the wilton six incher you buy separately even though they look the same. If you check the number under each pan, the one in the set, and the pan that's bought separate, nine times out of ten, the numbers will be different. I also have other brand name pans, magic line, a cake supply store line, Fat Daddios etc, and none of them match up with my wilton pans. They might say 6 or 8 or 9 inch pan on each brand, but they do not bake up the same size.

Another thing I always do is measure my batter for six inch pans & most smaller rounds & squares. Its a bit of a PIA, but I've found if I wing the amount of batter, I'm usually off and one layer will be a smidge higher and fatter than the other.