Using a different size cake pan for a cheesecake (within reason, as in an inch, which is a bigger disparity than it sounds), is probably also OK, Beranbaum says.

It's no secret that cake pan sizes are important to achieve the proper results when you're baking. That said, we’ve all been in a situation where a recipe calls for a cake pan size that isn’t ...

We’ve done the math on common pans for you in the chart below, so you can create desserts for two—or for 20—with confidence. If you’d like to figure out the math for yourself, read on.Psst: ...

For a shortcut, remember that a 9-inch round cake pan holds about 6 cups (if the batter is 1 1/2 inches deep). A 13-by-9-inch pan holds 12 cups.

Baking diva Flo Braker, author of Baking for All Occasions (Chronicle Books, 2008), suggests having two of each pan or baking sheet you use, no matter the size. I like this idea, too, because it ...

Your 8-inch cake baked in a 9-inch pan will turn out thinner (and potentially drier), Medrich says, so consider scaling up the ingredients by 25% to compensate.

Rule No. 1 of baking is (almost) always this: Follow the recipe. As someone who shares recipes and frequently helps troubleshoot them, I’m a firm adherent to this adage. But . . . some rules … ...

Rule No. 1 of baking is (almost) always this: Follow the recipe. As someone who shares recipes and frequently helps troubleshoot them, I’m a firm adherent to this adage. But . . . some rules are ...