Help!  I have two questions.

I am making a 18x12 sheet cake of the chocolate butter cake recipe to accompany a small wedding cake. I am very confused about the rose factor.  How can 2 18” round pans call for a rose factor of 17 but the 18x12 rectangle call for 7-8?  My 1988 book does not say that this is for one layer only!  My pan is 3” deep and I am going to torte it so I figured I would use 3/4 of a double layer recipe.  Can someone help me with what Rose Factor I should use and what baking powder level I should use for this pan size? How long should I bake the cake for approximately? The book does not say much about 3” pans…  I need to be baking today!

Lisa, there is a misprint.  On p. 490, for Level 6 cakes, it makes only one layer.  Also for level 6 cakes, the baking times are reversed, i.e., the half sheet size takes the longer time.  There’s a correction here: http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/book_errata/ 

Rose says that her cakes don’t bake well in 3” pans, so you might want to reconsider.  All of the Rose Factor charts are for 2” deep pans.

Thank you for answering.  So I should not try 1.5x the recipe in the 3” pan?  Can I even try a 2” layer in a 3” pan?  I just bought a 3” pan and don’t own the 2”...

Why is the Rose factor 7-8? What determines if I use 7 or 8?

One other question: I tried a 6” chocolate genoise, layers baked in one 2” pan and one 3” contour pan.  The 2” pan had parchment, and both were baked exactly in the center of the oven and watched very carefully. The tops look and feel great, but oddly, the bottoms of both are very dark, almost a caramelized crust. Even the one with the parchment. Did I do something wrong in the batter itself, or was I too slow to get it into the oven and it separated a bit, or ????

LisaM - 15 October 2010 07:17 AM

So I should not try 1.5x the recipe in the 3” pan?

I haven’t tried baking anything in a 3” deep pan, so I can’t tell you exactly what will happen, but here’s my thought:  the recipe needs additional structure to be baked in a deeper pan, and this compromises texture.  Rose maintains that home bakers are generally capable of turning out better cakes than a bakery and I think issues like this are one of the reasons- i.e., a professional bakery would make the cost-effective choice and bake the deeper layer rather than splitting it up into two layers. 

Can I even try a 2” layer in a 3” pan?

Forum member Bill has baked a 1.5” layer in a 2” pan and it has worked out, but that was for a 9x2 round, so I’m not sure if it will work with the larger sheet pan.

Why is the Rose factor 7-8? What determines if I use 7 or 8?

This is just personal preference, I think either will work.  The 8 will give a higher layer.

I tried a 6” chocolate genoise… The tops look and feel great, but oddly, the bottoms of both are very dark, almost a caramelized crust.

If it’s purely a color thing and it’s just on the crust, I would say there was too much heat on the bottom of the pan.  Your pan may have been dark or the oven, hot.  But if there was a thicker, dense layer at the bottom, then the genoise could have been underbeaten or over-folded.  Or, if you made the chocolate bar genoise (as opposed to the cocoa powder gen), a higher % chocolate than called for will also cause a dense layer at the bottom.