I want to try so many layer cake recipes from TCB and RHC but we are a small family so i don’t know how will I finish off so much cake. Most of Rose’s layer cakes call for two 9*2 inch or 9*1 1/2 inch round pans. Is it a safe bet to halve the recipe to make two 6*2 inch layers ? Will I have to adjust the baking time ?

You sure can! 

9x2 = 127 square inches
9x1.5 = 95 square inches
6x2 = 56 square inches—> 44% of 9x2, 58% of 9x1.5

So, you’d want to make 44% of a 9x2 recipe for a 6x2 recipe and 58% of a 9x1.5 recipe, but I’d bet you’d be fine rounding off to 50% or 60%, respectively.

Also, since the diameter of the pan is less, the cake doesn’t need as much structure to hold itself up across the span of the pan as it does for a 9x2, so if you want a flat layer, you’ll want to weaken the structure by adding a bit more Baking Powder.  This is a guess: add 1/16 tsp for a 6x2.  However, if you don’t mind a dome, you can likely leave the BP alone.  One of our members, Jenn, routinely makes cakes in the 6” size, and I don’t think she uses any leavening modifications.

For cooking time, most take 30-40 minutes.  I’d probably look through the glass at 20 minutes, just to see what’s up.  If you bake toward the low end of the time scale, it could be done.  If yours are done toward the long end, it might not be.  But, chances are, you can use whatever time works for your first cake as a fairly accurate go-by for other similar cakes.

I can usually look through the glass and tell when it’s worth “the touch test.”  All hits of moisture gone from the top of the cake and a sort of look of stability.  Usually, I’m a little early and it doesn’t spring back, but it helps me judge when I want to check it next, usually 3 minutes.

Happy baking!!

—ak

Thanks so much. I’m so glad that I can try many more recipes now that I’m assured that they will work just fine in the smaller pan. Just one more query , apart from the slight dome, will the finished height be the same as the 9 inch cakes ?

In RHC there is a Chocolate Streusel Cake made in a 6 cup bundt pan and several of the loaf recipes in TCB call for a 8x4 loaf or a 6 cup tube pan.

You can also freeze half a full size cake.  In my experience, the cakes I have frozen have had the same texture upon defrosting as they had before they were frozen. Also, I have found the flavor to be a little intensified (in the banana cake recipe), which was a good thing.

apart from the slight dome, will the finished height be the same as the 9 inch cakes

Yes, because you are using the same amount of batter, proportionately.  Of course, if you round (rather than using the exact %s), you will have a tiny difference based upon the rounding.