Switching From Round Pans To Half Sheet Pan Is Messing With My Favorite Recipes, But I Can’T Figure Out Why
Baking By Sammy86 Updated 24 Apr 2019 , 6:43pm by -K8memphis
Hello! This is my first post and I registered specifically so I could ask a question that’s been driving me nuts. Forgive the crazy length of the post but I really hope someone can help!
Trying to transition from hobby/home baking into a home bakery business. Previously I’ve done only round cakes and I have a lot of recipes I love and that are really popular with the folks I bake for. But now I need to be able to offer half sheets as well, and my vanilla cake recipe (which bakes beautifully in 3, 8x2” pans) is full of tunnels with a somewhat crumbly/too delicate texture when baked in a half sheet pan (12x18x3 inch Fat Daddio pan). I’m really attached to this recipe, but after two test cakes, both with tunneling and weak structure, I’m wondering if it’s time to give up and find another one.
What really bothers me is that I don’t understand WHY it’s happening from a cake science standpoint so I can’t fix the problem. Plus I don’t know what to look for/avoid in testing other recipes in sheet pans vs rounds. I do know for certain I’m not over-mixing because of how often I bake this cake and the fact that its only happens in half sheet pans. My ingredients are fresh, they’re at room temp before mixing, my oven is well-calibrated, all that good stuff!
So does that mean this cake is too rich and needs more structural support so it can “climb the walls” of a smaller pan? Does this mean I need to increase/reduce leavening when I move to half sheet size? Turn the heat way down?! (It bakes at 325). I didn’t go to pastry school and I feel a bit out of my depth here (cake pan pun totally intended!). I have to bake for 150 people in just two weeks so I’m running out of time if I don’t want to have to bake 15 small round cakes... yikes.
Thank you SO MUCH for any help, bakers!
idk the ultimate answer except that some recipes work and some don’t in various shaped pans — in fact i actually have a half sheet recipe that is pure misery in any other shape — grr
so while I feel your pain — I never really try to fix a formula — because I am loathe to waste those ingredients— so I accept it and just move on — i can live with the limitations —
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