Baking the Cake Layers

Large cake pans, such as the 12-inch round ones and the 18-inch sheet cakes, benefit particularly from being encircled or wrapped with cake strips (see Cake Strips) before baking in order to slow down the baking at the edges. Because the edges are so far from the center of the pan, what happens is that by the time the center sets, it is higher than the sides and the outside edges are overbaked. The strips will keep the layers flatter on top and more moist near the outer edges.