I personally prefer stainless cake pans for cake baking. Years ago I tried others: dark, aluminum, nonstick, etc... And while I have gotten good results most of the time with those, I always get great results every time with the stainless. There's no fussing around w/cooking times (with my calphalon professional pans the instructions said shorten baking time and check early) and/or temperatures (like with the dark pans it is recommended to reduce oven temp 25 degrees - this was engraved right on my nordicware dark cakepan). A few years ago I picked up a set of vintage revere-ware stainless 9-inch cake pans at our local goodwill for a buck a piece. They are nice and heavy, don't warp, etc... But since they are no longer in production, for gifts I give Hamilton Beech stainless cake pans. I have all of the other pans in the line and they are good weight, professional quality. I have gotten many great compliments from the recipients. Here is a link:
http://www.kitchencollection.com/Tem...%20cake%20pan& If you get them directly from the store they sometimes go on sale. I put a pair of them in a gift bag or basket along w/organic cake and icing mix, and maybe a spatula and some sort of decorating tool. Always a hit.
As far as the 8-inch verses 9-inch, most recipes are really interchangeable.
gl
hth
happy baking!
