I am making a 1/2 sheet- 1/2 yellow & 1/2 choc cake for a communion this week. I baked it today & the yellow side was done & the choc part tested mostly done-just a very little on the toothpick & the top would spring back when lightly touched. After it had cooled approx. 10 min-the choc side sank in the middle-I havent' leveled it yet to see what it looks like. Baked at 325 w/ a flower nail. I havn't made a 1/2 & 1/2 cake for awhile, but do not remember this being a problem. The yellow side is already pulling away from the side-how do you get the choc done without a dry other half????

I've never made a cake like this. I've heard lots of horror stories like this...even that the chocolate wouldn't rise as high as the yellow cake.

so, since I can't help you any...consider this a friendly bump!!

Anyone else??

Try doing 2 9x13 and putting them together! Then you can bake them separtely and decorate as one. Frost sides where they join. If you wanted you could cut the crust edge off where you join them.

Ihave tried to do half and half before in the same pan and it was terrible! the chocolate side did not seem to cook right.
Ever since then, I do to seperate cakes and just frost them together.
Much better now!

You can get an 11x15 by baking 2 7x11 cakes. I do the half and half thing all the time.....2 7x11's= an 11x15.......2 9x13's =12x18. I usually trim just a fraction of an inch off of the two sides that are going to be together...seems to make them fit together better

cheers,
shirley

You have a 7x11" pan?

Yes.....WIlton makes them.....I got it at my local cake supply store.

I have tried baking them together - my results weren't so great either. I prefer to bake them seperate, trim the edge slightly that meets and frost together. I don't have an 11x7 though. I'll have to try & find. Thanks

I have been baking half chocolate and half yellow 12x18 cakes for many years, and in that time I have discovered something. The yellow half does not rise as much as the chocolate, so it needs to be confined to a smaller area. I always pour the chocolate batter in first so it makes a dam in the middle of the pan and fills one half. Then I pour the yellow batter in the other end and this is when the magic happens.

Using the tip of a table knife, I begin to swirl some of the chocolate batter into the yellow batter in big s-shapes, to make it marble cake in the middle of the pan. Carefully swirl just a small amount of yellow batter into the chocolate batter. That way it ends up with about 1/3 chocolate, 1/3 marble, and 1/3 yellow cake. It takes some practice to get the ratio just right.

In a 12x18 half sheet cake, that means about 6 inches on one end is chocolate, 6 inches on the other end is yellow, and in the middle, about 6 inches wide of marble cake, where more chocolate has been swirled into the yellow, than yellow into the chocolate. That keeps the yellow batter more or less confined to a smaller area, and the chocolate is over a larger area, and it nearly always comes out even height on both ends. This does solve the line-of-demarcation problem with one side higher than the other. Of course, if my client requested that there be no marble (no one ever has), I would bake two 9x13 quarter sheet cakes and decorate them as one.

My electric oven is small. The 12x18 half sheet is the biggest pan it will hold, with about an inch or so all around for air flow. The cake bakes at 350 for 11 minutes. Then I rotate the pan, and bake the cake for 11 minutes more. Then I toothpick check the cake in the middle and usually only need to bake for 2 or 3 more minutes. Both ends are done at the same time. Of course, all ovens are different. Oh yes, I use Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix and Betty Crocker Classic Yellow Cake mix, both have pudding in the mix. I spray the pan with Baker's Joy. And I use BakeEven baking strips on all my cake pans. Sorry this was so long. But did it make sense?

Thank you for all the tips. I feel better knowing I am not the only one with this problem. I like the idea of swirling them a little in the middle. Making the 2 cakes would ensure they are each done perfectly!
Thanks again!!