The Best Sheet Cake Pans
For an actual sheet cake that’s typically decorated and sold in grocery stores and by cake shops alike, you’re talking about a 9x13x2 inch pan . The pans are usually 2 inches deep .
For my business, I don’t use the terms half sheet, quarter sheet, full-sheet, etc. because I’ve found that these sizes aren’t always uniform in the baking community. But I’m going to do my best to explain what I’ve found in research.
First, the height of your cake matters as far as servings. When most people talk about sheet cakes, they’re thinking of a single layer of cake, approximately 2-inches tall.
If you make a two-layer cake instead, you double the number of servings. I actually prefer this if I’m doing sheet cakes because I think it looks nicer, but that’s a personal preference.
I’m sure there’s a correct size for a “quarter sheet cake” but there’s some conflicting information out there, so I just say the actual pan sizes: 9×13 or 10×15 or whatever. Then I give my clients the number of servings for whichever size I’m talking about and go from there.
What Half Sheet Cake Size
The size of a half-size pan varies depending on who you talk to or where you buy the cake from. A half sheet cake is usually a 10-inch by 15-inch sheet or an 11-inch by 15-inch sheet. I’m not sure why there are varying widths with those two sizes but I think it depends on the brand you buy.
Sometimes 9-inch by 13-inch pans are called half-sheet pans, but more commonly this size is called a quarter sheet, as previously discussed.
How Big Is A Serving Of Cake
I’m also going to talk about portions or serving sizes for the different pans. My servings are based on 2x2x2 inch slices of single layer cake. This is the typical size served at birthday parties.
The width of the cake slice changes if you do two layers of cake. For my calculations, if the cake is 4-5 inches tall, I use a 1x2x4 inch slice of cake as my serving or portion size.
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What Is The Difference Between A Jelly Roll Pan And A Cookie Sheet
A cookie sheet is a flat-bottom pan without siding that comes in various sizes. While cookie sheets may include one or two upturned edges for easy handling, jelly roll pans are half-size pans designed for baking cake rolls and include 1-inch sides like the larger rimmed baking sheets. A cookie sheet is ideal for any baking that doesn’t result in liquid runoff, while jelly roll pans and baking sheets with rims contain items that either start out as a liquid or cook off fat.
Winco 12 Gauge Aluminum Rectangle Sheet Extra Heavy Duty Pan 18 X 26 Inch
- Open bead rim for easy cleaning
- Carefully made of aluminum this sheet is rust-resistant and evenly conducts heat when you’re baking
- Every kitchen requires sheet pans for baking and roasting. They can help you with cakes, cookies, bread, fish, meat and lots of other tasks.
- Heavy-duty design makes it safe to use the item even in ovens with high temperature.
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Traditional Sheet Cake Pans
Anyway, for traditional “sheet cakes”, I love Parrish Magic Line Pans. Actually, this is my favorite brand for all traditional cake pans ! They’re quality pans that bake evenly and beautifully.
Magic Line pans also hold up for the long haul and do not warp even after thousands of runs through my oven.
Best of all, Magic Line pans also have super sharp corners for sheet and square cakes and I love that feature! Elegant designs can look cheep if they don’t have sharp professional corners.
With our recent move, I’ve had to split cake work between the new house and the old one. I didn’t have all of my sheet pans in one place to take pics for this post, so I only have the one size pictured.
But I actually have these three sizes:
A couple of times I’ve needed an odd size in between those and I’ll just slide two together… and have a 13×18 or 20×15. That’s what I did for this huge bank order a few years ago .
Related Recipes & Posts
- My Top 6 Favorite Boxed Cake Mix Recipes
- Wilton Cake Chart – use this for a reference on how much batter you’ll need for different pan sizes and size conversions. If you used doctored cake mixes, like I do, you can also use the chart to help you decide how many boxes of cake mix you’ll need for the pans .
Did I forget anything? I’d love to hear it if you have thoughts on other varieties of sheet cake pans. And if you have different “favorites”, leave me a comment and tell me which ones you prefer!
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What Is A Typical Sheet Cake Size
This is a controversial question if there ever one was. I’m not sure what’s meant by “typical” so I’ll go over the most common rectangular size options and you can decide which size you need!
The three sizes I hear most often mentioned are quarter sheet cakes, half sheet cakes, and full sheet cakes. I’ll share the pan length and pan width for each of the sizes I talk about. For all of my examples, I’m referring to a 2-inch deep pan.
Baking Pans: What You Need To Know
Restaurants, cafeterias, bakeries, and any other foodservice operation that needs to bake on a flat surface can use these versatile oven trays, which conveniently slide out of the oven and into a storage or holding rack. Bake crispy cookies on a perforated flat sheet, prepare dinner rolls or buns on pans with special indentations, or roast vegetables on baking sheets with rims.
The thickness of oven trays is measured in gauges, ranging from 12 to 22 for these pans, with lower gauge numbers representing greater thickness. Gauge thickness differs by material: A 12-gauge aluminum sheet pan will be about 2 millimeters thick, while a stainless steel sheet pan will be 2.78 millimeters thick. A 22-gauge pan will be 0.64 millimeters thick for aluminum and 0.79 inches thick for stainless steel.
Sheet pans may be reinforced with galvanized wire around their rims. Perforated baking sheets enable maximum airflow to crisp buns or other foods. If you want your food to be less crispy or will be cooking greasy, oily, or watery foods, choose a non-perforated pan.
Choose from aluminum or stainless steel baking trays, as well as various coatings to prevent sticking. Purple coatings are available to help operators distinguish allergen-free foods from allergens. Sheet pan extenders that increase the height of a pan’s sides convert baking trays into pans that can bake even-sided sheet cakes.
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What Size Commercial Baking Sheets Are Available
A full-size pan is about 26 inches long and 18 inches wide. These pans are designed to slide into ovens and holding racks. The following sheet pan sizes are listed as fractions of full-size pans:
- Eighth-size pans are about 10 inches long by 6 inches wide.
- Quarter-size pans are typically 13 inches long by 10 inches wide.
- Half-size pans are usually 18 inches long by 14 inches wide.
- Two-third-size pans are normally 21 inches long by 15 inches wide.
- Three-quarter-size pans are around 22 inches long by 16 inches wide.
Product Details For Tigerchef Full Size Aluminum Sheet Pan 18 X 26
Perfect for baking cookies, sheet cakes, rolls and other delectable baked goods, the TigerChef Full Size Aluminum Sheet Pan 18″ x 26″ is a valuable addition to both home and commercial kitchens. Crafted from heavy duty 19-gauge aluminum, this commercial grade sheet pan distributes heat quickly and evenly across the surface for uniform baking and cools down quickly for safe handling. Its rolled edge style has a wire reinforced beaded rim that prevents warping, and helps it maintain its structure and shape even after repeated use.
This full-size aluminum sheet pan is stackable when not in use, to save valuable storage space in your bakery or commercial kitchen. In addition, thanks to its rolled edges it is easy to handle, and it can be placed in a sheet rack to cool. This highly durable commercial quality sheet pan is also NSF listed making it easy to clean and maintain.
- 19 gauge durable aluminum construction
- Wide and shallow baking pan with rolled edges
- Excellent heat conduction produces evenly baked foods
- Dimensions: 18″W x 26″D x 1″H
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What Size Is A Quarter Sheet Cake
In my experience, 9-inch by 13-inch pans are almost always called quarter sheet cake pans. Once I saw someone refer to a 7×11 inch pan as a quarter sheet or quarter pan, but that was literally one time.
Because I have a $100 minimum order requirement, I no longer offer sheet cakes, but when I did, this was the most common size for birthdays and baby showers.
Nordic Ware Commercial Sheet Pans
Okay… aside from traditional cake pans, these Nordic pans are also called sheet pans. These are not usually used for tiered or layer cakes – but rather for things like jelly roll cakes or petit fours.
The most popular thing I’ve used them for on the blog is petit fours – and that is a super popular recipe for me. Here is part of my collection:
I also use these pans to bake cookies, bars, bread, biscuits, roasting veggies, broiling bacon, and a million other things. They are seriously good for so many things!! I have 20+ of them and I still can’t ever have enough! I had to have a whole “pan area” in my kitchen just to store them!
Oooh, you can also get lids for them which is thebomb.com. I love to store unfrosted cupcakes on them with a lid to keep them fresh until I’m ready to decorate.
They are the perfect airtight container for baked goods and they save me a lot of plastic wrap!
The Nordic Ware sheet pans are different from the Magic Line pans in that they don’t have straight up and down sides or sharp corners and they’re only about 1 inch deep vs. 2-3 inches. Nordic Ware Sheet pans also come in quarter sheet, half sheet, and full sheet sizes, but I’m going to give you the dimensions in inches.
Because I’m a rebel like that
But first, if you have this type of pan and don’t want to invest in the typical cake pans, you can buy a sheet pan extender to convert your pans into cake pans. I’ve never personally used one of those, but I think it’s a brilliant idea!
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