What would happen if you used 3 9 inch cake pans a recipe calls for 8 pans?

If you used three 9-inch cake pans when a recipe calls for eight, you would not have enough batter to fill all of the pans. This could result in the cakes being unevenly sized and cooked, with the cakes in the 9-inch pans cooking more quickly than the cakes in the 8-inch pans. Additionally, you would not be able to assemble the cake as intended, as the recipe would likely call for specific stacking or layering instructions based on the number of cake layers. To avoid these issues, it is important to follow the recipe instructions and use the correct number of cake pans. If you do not have enough cake pans, you can bake the batter in batches or consider making a different cake recipe that uses a different number of pans.