These useful charts, part of my Baking Fundamentals series, can help you decide how much batter and how much of each ingredient you need for different-sized and shaped baking pans. For the greatest outcomes, we’re talking about size, volume, and surface area!

Consider this: You discover the recipe of your dreams, but it requires a 13 x 9 rectangle pan, which you do not have. Don’t be alarmed! You may adapt the recipe for the size pan you do have with some simple arithmetic.

A few tips for converting recipes

3 full, locate another pan (or maybe even split the recipe in half and make it in two batches, if it works). Otherwise, you can end up with batter that overflows and burns into the bottom of the oven. 3 full. You could perform the math and realize that your pan works, but only just barely. If you have to fill the pan more than twice, don’t do it.

Bigger pans need more time to bake. This is not a rule that applies 100% of the time, but it is an excellent starting point. More batter equals more to bake, which implies somewhat longer baking times.

Shorter baking periods Imply shallower batter depth. If your conversion resulted in a little shallower depth than the original recipe would have in the allocated pan, you’ll need to adjust for a shorter baking time to prevent drying out and overbaking.

From edge to inner edge, measure your pans. If you are unsure of the pan measurements, always measure on the inner edges of the pan so that the thickness of the edges is not included in your measurement.

Do not attempt to bake in a pan that is larger than your oven’s capacity! It should go without saying, but don’t convert to a pan size that your oven can’t handle. I’ve seen some little ovens in tiny places, and those of you who use them are stronger than I am. And I’d love to see your small ovens and the great things you create in them so I can marvel at it all, so please send me photographs.

How to calculate pan volume

In the charts below, I’ve indicated the volume of all the most often used pan sizes. This was estimated by filling each pan one cup at a time until they were completely filled! If I missed a pan size, you may use the same approach to calculate it yourself.

Guideline for conversions

For instance, if a recipe asks for a 13 x 9 rectangle pan and you want to half it but aren’t sure whether it would fit in your 8 x 8 pan:

14 cups = 13 x 9 x 2 pan (3.3 liters) 8 cups = 8 x 8 x 2 pan (1.9 liters)

Thus halving the recipe yields 7 cups, which will fit in an 8 × 8 pan. Hooray! But, you need consider the surface area as well, which we will discuss in more detail later.

Measurements for conversions

You may use the following guidelines to help you find out how to convert one pan size to another:

1000mL = 1 liter = 1 cup = 240mL

Rectangular & Square Pan Dimensions

Round Pan Dimensions

Loaf Pan Dimensions

Springform Pan Dimensions

Bundt Pan Dimensions

Calculating pan surface area

A significant element of effectively adapting a recipe for a different pan size is adjusting for volume, but surface area is also vital! The depth of what you’re baking might result in a varied baking time, and the last thing you want to do is invest all this effort into translating the recipe, producing the dish, and then bake it for an inordinate amount of time. Bluebirdcafela.com is depressed because the cake is dry.

To begin, determine the surface area of each pan:

Surface area of rectangular and square pans = length x width

Round pan surface area Surface area = 3.14 times radius

Then apply the following formula:

Huge pan surface area smaller pan area = number of times the recipe has to be multiplied for the same depth in the bigger of the two pans

Calculating and comparing surface areas

That was a lot of text. Let’s use the same example as before. To begin, determine the surface area of each pan:

117 square inches = 13 x 9 pan. 64 square inches in an 8 × 8 pan

And now we apply the aforementioned formula to calculate the ratio:

117 64 = 1.83

Hence, if you’re attempting to modify the original recipe for the smaller square pan, divide each ingredient by 1.83, not 2. Clearly, this complicates the calculations for lowering each item, so take that with a grain of salt.

If you keep the arithmetic easy and just split the recipe in half, you’ll wind up with a slightly deeper batter, which may need a little longer baking time.

Are you still with me? Let’s have a look at a somewhat more sophisticated scenario.

Converting from a rectangular pan to round pan

Let’s do the same thing from a 13 x 9 pan to a circular 8 x 2 pan.

13 × 9 pan equals 117 square inches 3.14 x 4 = 50.24 square inches = 8 x 2 pan 117 square in. 2.33 times 50.24 square inches

In this scenario, you should cut the recipe by slightly more than half. You’ll end up with a little shallower batter, which may necessitate shortening the baking time.

For your convenience, the surface area estimates of the most popular pan sizes are provided below for your convenience.

Adjusting your bake time

Note: The ratio you calculated may be used as a reference for changing your baking time, but it is not a hard and fast rule and will not work in all instances. It is designed more as a guideline to make educated choices, so keep an eye on things as they bake and adjust as required!

Rectangular & Square Pan Surface Areas

Surface area is calculated as follows: length x width

Round Pan Surface Areas

Surface area is calculated as 3.14 x radius.

I hope this was helpful! Is there anything more I should have spoken regarding this topic? Please let me know in the comments section below.

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