Size matters – especially when it comes to making a layer cake. Most recipes I read call for a 9-inch-round cake tin. The recipe I wanted to make asked for an 8-inch-round tin. Easy, right? Ha!

I trolled the aisles of ALL my local stores. Loads of 9-inchers, but no 8-inchers. Regrettably, I had to surrender to the 9-inch tin if I wanted to make my daughter and son-in-law their birthday cake BEFORE the celebration instead of delivering it for Christmas!

And what was the result? A pancake. Covered in sprinkles. Topped with two Shabbos candles (I didn’t have birthday candles!) for their mutual birthdays.

After this debacle, I headed straight for my “go to” kitchen supply store – the fancy one — Sur La Table. 45-minutes away in Boca Raton. “Et voila!” (as one of my favorite chefs, Raymond Blanc, would say.) I walked out with TWO 8-inch-round baking tins and waltzed into my kitchen prepared to bake!

Inside the tins was a cake recipe from Nordic Ware. It read well, so that’s the one I used. Only Nordic Ware didn’t proofread their recipe and instead of mixing the butter with the sugar, it told me to mix it with the flour. And then mix again with the butter. Confusing? How do you think I felt!!!!

Maybe I wasn’t destined to make cake. Or eat cake. But I plowed on anyway, made the cockamamie batter, baked the rounds and out came two of the most beautiful cakes I’d ever made. And when they were stacked on top of each other – yeah, it looked like a top-hat gone awry, but the result was a mile-high beauty just calling out for those rainbow sprinkles! All I needed was someone to eat it!

So – no recipe this time. Just know that your baking cupboard should have the right size baking tins. And 8-inches is the key to a perfect layer cake. Even one that tilts. Yup – size matters!