Need help with a recipe from Food Networks "Throwdown with Bobby Flay"...Please help.

Want to make Utimate coconut cake that Bobby Flay won against renowned chef Robert Carter (Peninsula Grill) for my daughters birthday this weekend. The issue is- that the recipe I found is for 8 servings using 2, 9" round by 2" high cake pans. I have purchased 1, 9" by 13" by 4" high sheet pan specifically for this recipe and have no clue how much I have to increase the recipe. Also- this is NOT my first time baking (although first time taking on a feat like this) and know that far too many times when you merely double a recipe- IT NEVER COMES OUT THE SAME. How should I go about doing this-NO TIME FOR A TRIAL RUN. Assuming that my pan requires the recipe to be doubled (IF THATS ENOUGH)-How should I do this? Can the batter sit while I make the second batch (referring to the cake batter) or if I double it-are there any changes I should make to avoid the age-old dilemma of it not tasting the same when you double a recipe. HELP!!!!!!

Christine Vichi
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1 Comment

Smaug
Smaug June 26, 2018
It is inadvisable with cakes to substantially change the depth, therefore surface area of the pans is the operative number. Your 9" round pans have an area of about 64 sq.in (same as an 8" square pan), so 128 sq.in. The 9x13 pan will have a surface area of 117 sq.in., reasonably closed to the round pans, so if you do the recipe unaltered the batter will be a bit deeper and will take a little longer to cook; the exceptionally high sides of your pan (which, by the way, I don't think qualifies as a sheet pan) may interfere with air circulation to the top of the cake, and it may brown a bit less from the top; this also could add slightly to the time- I'd really recommend using a different pan or pans for the recipe if at all possible. At any rate, you will need to do some testing to know when the cake is done.
 
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