Is it possible to use the Rose Factor when scaling any recipe?

I have a chocolate cake recipe that my family has used for birthdays for decades. It’s not one that usually make now but I’ve been asked to make a cake for my brother’s birthday.
Because it’s a significant birthday I’m going to be making a carved cake.  The base recipe will make a standard 2 layer 8” round cake.  I need to make it in an 11x15 pan in order to have the area to carve.
I don’t need it to be any higher than 1.5-2” tops.  I’m considering doing 2 layers that are 0.75”-1” high so I can filll it before carving (with ganache).
Do you think I can get away with just doubling the recipe for this pan without modifying quantities especially the baking soda?

Thanks.

Unless someone has experience with the particular recipe, probably the best answer you can get is “maybe”. Rose’s cakes have less than average structure, so they probably need to the Rose factor adjustments more than most recipes. I would guess that the more domed your 8” rounds, the more likely it is that you can use the same recipe in the larger pan.

pmarks0 - 21 February 2013 11:18 PM

The base recipe will make a standard 2 layer 8” round cake.  I need to make it in an 11x15 pan

How deep is your 11x15 pan?

Two 8x2 rounds would have a capacity of about 14 cups. If your 11x15 pan is 1” deep, it would have a capacity of about 11.4 cups.  Pans should be filled half to 2/3 full, so if the recipe fills the 8x2 pans half full, you will probably have about the right amount of batter.  If the recipe fills the 8x2 pans 2/3 full, you will have too much. 

A 2” deep 11x15 pan has a capacity that is about 22.8 cups, so you would need to multiply the recipe by 1.63 or about 1 2/3. 

If this is a butter cake, pans should be filled half to 2/3 full of batter or they may not bake up properly, it doesn’t always work to just fill the pan less than half full in order to avoid torting the cake.

All that said, if your 11x15 pan is a cookie sheet with sides 1/2- 3/4” deep, then it won’t require as much structure as a deeper pan, so you may be fine without adjusting the leavening.  Perhaps a cookie sheet is the way to go, in order to get both thinner layers and to have less need of adjusting the leavening.

[quote author=“Julie” date=“1361561210"Two 8x2 rounds would have a capacity of about 14 cups. If your 11x15 pan is 1” deep, it would have a capacity of about 11.4 cups.  Pans should be filled half to 2/3 full, so if the recipe fills the 8x2 pans half full, you will probably have about the right amount of batter.  If the recipe fills the 8x2 pans 2/3 full, you will have too much. 

A 2” deep 11x15 pan has a capacity that is about 22.8 cups, so you would need to multiply the recipe by 1.63 or about 1 2/3. 

If this is a butter cake, pans should be filled half to 2/3 full of batter or they may not bake up properly, it doesn’t always work to just fill the pan less than half full in order to avoid torting the cake.

All that said, if your 11x15 pan is a cookie sheet with sides 1/2- 3/4” deep, then it won’t require as much structure as a deeper pan, so you may be fine without adjusting the leavening.  Perhaps a cookie sheet is the way to go, in order to get both thinner layers and to have less need of adjusting the leavening.

The pan I’m using is a 3” 11x15 however I’m not looking for a 3” high cake.  I really don’t want it any higher than 2” as I’m carving a violin from it.
According to the charts on line, an 8x2 pan requires 3-1/2 cups of batter so given that I would estimate that the recipe yields 7-8 cups of batter, possible a bit more.
According to the same chart, an 11x15x2 requires 11 cups of batter.  I did measure out 14 cups of water into my pan and it filled the pan to a 1” depth.  So I’m not sure how accurate the chart is.

When you refer to the capacity of the pan, are you talking about total volume if one filled it with water to the top?

The recipe I’m using is:

1/2c butter
1-1/4c sugar
2 eggs
3oz chocolate
2c cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1c milk
1 tsp vanilla

I was thinking of just doubling the recipe hoping that would give me the volume I needed. 
In terms of the leavening, does it need to be adjusted to compensate for the larger area of the 11x15 pan?

Yes, capacity does mean the amount of water you can pour into a pan and fill it to the top.

Sounds like your pan has a capacity of about 34 cups.  Rose maintains that her cakes do not bake well if the pan is less than half full, but I don’t know whether or not that will apply to your recipe.  It might be safer to try to fill the pan close to half full, or about 17 cups of batter.  If your recipe makes 7-8 cups of batter, it might work to just double it, but it would be an experiment, you might want to bake the cake early enough to allow for a re-do if it doesn’t work.

I don’t know whether your recipe will need to have the baking soda reduced to account for the larger pan- quite possibly.  But again, it would be an experiment.  As Charles points out, you might be OK without an adjustment if the recipe normally produces a cake that is rounded or domed on top.  The Rose factor system has been worked out and tested for Rose’s wedding cake recipes, they would only be a starting place for experimentation with other recipes.

Because baking soda has an effect on the color and flavor of chocolate, reducing it may alter the flavor and lighten the color of the cake.