When baking, even small deviations in the size of the pan can affect the result: the sponge may not bake through, the cake may dry out, and there may not be enough cream.
But if your pan differs from the one specified in the recipe, don’t worry! There is a simple way to recalculate the ingredients for the required pan size. Let’s figure out how to do this.
Why it’s important to consider the diameter of the pan
Each pan has its own volume, which determines how high the dough will rise and how quickly it will bake.
If you use a pan with a larger diameter, the dough will be thinner, and the baking time will be shorter.
If the pan is smaller, the dough will be higher, and the baking may not bake through.
Conversion ratio
The conversion ratio helps adapt the amount of ingredients from the recipe to a pan of a different size. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a round, square, or rectangular pan. The formula is the same for any shape.
The formula itself is simple: the diameter of our pan squared divided by the diameter of the recipe pan squared.
For example, if you want to bake a sponge in a pan with a diameter of 26 cm, but the recipe specifies ingredients for a pan with a diameter of 23 cm.
In this case, the conversion ratio will be:
(26 * 26) / (23 * 23) = 676 / 529 = 1.27
Let’s also consider the opposite example. Suppose the recipe is designed for a pan with a diameter of 20 cm, but we only have a pan with a diameter of 16 cm.
Let’s calculate the conversion ratio:
(16 * 16) / (20 * 20) = 256 / 400 = 0.64
You can calculate the conversion ratio using this form:
What to do next
We have learned the conversion ratio. Now we just need to multiply the quantity of all ingredients from the recipe by this ratio.
For example, if the recipe calls for 200 g of erythritol and our ratio is 1.27, then we will need:
200 * 1.27 = 254 g of erythritol.
If the quantity of the ingredient is specified in pieces, we also use the conversion ratio. But in this case, we round the fractional part up (if it is greater than or equal to 0.5) or down (if it is less than 0.5).
Example for 5 eggs:
5 * 1.27 = 6.35 = 6 eggs
In the recipes on the O-KETO.COM website, for which the diameter of the pan is specified, there is a field for adjusting the recipe for a pan of a different diameter. So, it is enough to just enter the size of your pan, and the quantity of ingredients will be adjusted automatically.
