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Cake Batter & Pan Fill Calculator
Find out how much batter your pans need and how full to fill them, for rounds, squares, sheets, loaves, Bundts and muffin tins, in cups and by weight, with a rough baking time.
How to use it
- Choose your pan, or enter a custom size, and how many you're filling.
- Pick the kind of batter: butter cake, sponge, cheesecake, brownie or quick bread.
- Keep the recommended fill level or choose your own, and read the batter per pan and in total.
How it works
Each pan's volume to the rim comes from standard pan charts. The recommended fill is about half full for layer cakes, 60% for loaf and Bundt pans and two-thirds for cupcakes, leaving room for the batter to rise.
Batter weight uses typical densities: butter cake batter about 0.95 g per mL, sponge about 0.5 (it's mostly air), cheesecake 1.05 and brownie 1.1.
Assumptions and limits
- Batter densities are typical values; very airy or very dense batters will differ.
- Baking times assume 350°F and a standard butter cake; they're a starting point.
- A boxed cake mix makes about 4 to 5 cups of batter.
Tips
- Weigh the batter into each pan for even layers that bake in the same time.
- Tap filled pans on the counter to release big air bubbles.
- If a pan is more than two-thirds full, bake it on a sheet pan to catch spills.
Recipes to try it with
Questions
How full should I fill a cake pan?
About halfway for layer cakes and two-thirds for cupcakes, loaf and Bundt pans. Butter cakes rise about 50%.
How much batter does a 9-inch round pan need?
About 4 cups, filling a 2-inch-deep pan halfway, roughly 900 g of butter cake batter.
How many cups of batter does a cake mix make?
About 4 to 5 cups, enough for two 8-inch layers or 24 cupcakes.
How much batter for a 9x13 pan?
About 7 cups for a 2-inch-deep 9x13, filled halfway.