Wedding cake sizing is crucial for determining the number of servings needed for your guests. A six-inch top tier will provide about 14 servings, while a three-tiered round cake works well for a group of 100 guests. For a small wedding, choose a two-tiered cake for up to 50 guests, while a three-tiered cake works well for a group of 100 guests.
When planning out the number of servings, consider that not all guests will like or eat cake. It’s better to order a cake that can serve at least 200 portions. Tradition suggests offering one slice of brides cake per guest and a half slice of grooms cake. However, choosing two tiers is preferred for presentation reasons.
The most common size of the cake stand is 10″, 12″, 14, 16, and 18″. When ordering, square wedding cakes naturally provide more slices than round ones. The most popular size of the cake stand is a three-tier cake with a base tier of 10in diameter and a top tier of 6in diameter.
For 120 guests, a standard 3 tier will yield enough portions. For dessert, a larger 4-5 tier is required. Square cakes will yield more portions than round cakes.
For traditional wedding cake portions, plan for 1-2 slices per guest. However, if you’re serving additional desserts or if your guests are not big cake eaters, plan for a larger cake.
In summary, the number of guests at your wedding is the most important factor when determining the size of your wedding cake. It’s recommended to cater for 90% of your total guest count to ensure the majority receive a slice and reduce wastage.
📹 Wedding Cake Sizing Chart
Choosing your wedding cake is a big decision. There are so many different designs and shapes you can choose from. Though it …
How many tiers for 70 guests?
Wedding Cake, 6, 8, or 10 servings, 30 guests: 6, 8, or 10 servings, 70 guests:
How big is a wedding cake for 150 guests?
Wedding Cake: 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200, 240, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2400, 3000, 4000, 5000, 600.
What is a good size for a wedding cake?
Wedding Cake Sizes Chart Number of Guests Tiers Size (Width of Tiers) 30-60: 28 in x 10 in 60-120: 36 in x 10 in x 14 in 120-200: 46 in x 8 in x 10 in x 12 in 200 or more: 58 in x 10 in x 12 in x 14 in x 16 in.
Finding your perfect wedding cake is like finding the perfect partner—one size doesn’t fit all. Once you choose your wedding date, venue, and guests, think about the cake. There are lots of wedding cake ideas, but to find the perfect one, first consider your budget, number of guests, and favorite cake flavor. The perfect cake can be a beautiful focal point at your reception. Our guide helps you make an informed decision before ordering your dream wedding cake. Knowing how many guests are coming to your wedding helps you choose the right-sized cake. About 10-20% of guests won’t attend, so keep this in mind when estimating your cake size and amount.
How big is a wedding cake for 120 guests?
A standard 3-tier will serve 120 people. You’ll need a larger 4-5 tier for dessert. Square cakes yield more portions than round cakes. Add drama and height to your wedding cake design with fake tiers, a decorated piece of Styrofoam. There will be less cake to avoid wasting it. You should pay less than for an all-cake design because you’re not paying for the extra ingredients or baking time. You can add height to your wedding cake with a pedestal cake stand, decorated crates, custom-cut wood blocks, or your venue may offer metal cake stands. You can buy these online or in local stores during sales. However, consider the weight of your wedding cake (biscuit and fruit cakes are heavy).
How many tiers for 150 guests?
If the wedding cake is the main dessert, make sure it’s big enough for all your guests. As a guide, a two-tier cake serves 60 guests, a three-tier cake serves 100 guests, and a four-tier cake serves 150 guests. One two-tier cake serves 60 guests, one three-tier cake serves 100 guests, and one four-tier cake serves 150 guests. For larger weddings, consider adding more tiers or a sheet cake.
Cake with other desserts: If you’re serving other desserts with the wedding cake, you can adjust the cake size. Consider a smaller cake for some guests. This way, everyone can enjoy different desserts.
What size cake for 90 guests?
Servings for sheet, layer, and pound cakes. ¼ sheet: 20-25 ½ sheet: 30-35 ¾ sheet: 40-50 Full sheet: 70-75.
Long-time customers know what size cake is best for them. If you are new or just need a refresher, see our servings guide below. You will see two servings per size of cake. Our pound cake is denser and richer than our layer cakes, so it can be sliced thinner. All cakes are two layers. Our two-tier options are two round cakes of different sizes stacked on top of each other. A three-tier wedding cake with the bottom tier missing.
How big is a 4 tier wedding cake?
For 100 guests, we suggest a 4-tier wedding cake. The average price is $500-$550.
What is the average size of a 3 tier wedding cake?
Divide the number of cake layers by the number of servings to find the number of servings per layer. A 12-serving wedding cake serves 40-60 people. The 10-layer cake serves 30-40 people, and the 8-layer cake serves 20-25 people. A 3-tier cake with 12, 10, and 8 inch layers serves about 100 people. Narrower cakes are smaller, cheaper, and serve fewer people. Pillar cake tiers can be the same height as long as they have supports. You can also ask for different sizes, like a 9-inch cake.
Cost of your tiered cake. Pick a budget and stick to it. Tiered cakes can be hard to make. Extra tiers cost more. Why? That’s a lot of cake to bake, stack, and decorate! Each tier takes more time, more support, and more cake to complete. A tall tiered cake can cost a lot, but there are ways to make it look good without spending a lot.
Your cake dream. How many tiers do you need for your cake to feel right? A wedding cake is often a tiered cake. If you need a tall cake with many layers, but have a small guest list, consider a thinner cake on platform tiers. If you want decorations on the outside, choose a two-tiered cake with a cascade design. Do you want flowers or scenery in icing? Your cake vision will help you decide how many tiers to order.
What size wedding cake to feed 100 guests?
Ready to make a choice? A three-tier cake with 12-inch, 10-inch, and 8-inch layers will serve all 100 guests with the standard portion size. Want to be generous? A four-tier cake with slightly smaller layers (10″, 8″, 6″, and 4″) offers bigger slices. Go for a classic sheet cake (24″ x 18″) for a simple, delicious option. Chat with your baker! They’re cake experts, not mind readers. Tell them what you want. They’ll make the perfect cake for you.
Conclusion. Ditch the stress and choose a size that tells your love story. Let the frosting flow like champagne. A wedding cake for 100 guests is an adventure, not a math problem! Cheers to sweet wedding days!
How big is a cake that serves 100?
A 1 3/4-inch spoon is about the width of a table spoon. A 16-inch cake can serve 100 people, with each slice about 1 inch across.
What size should a 4 tier wedding cake be?
Each tier is about 5 inches tall, and the whole cake serves 100-110 people. Couples expecting 150 guests often get a four-tier cake with two dummy top tiers, giving them 140 servings. This four-tier cake served 240.
How many layers of wedding cake for 150 people?
Couples expecting 150 guests often get a four-tier cake with two dummy tiers, giving them 140 servings. This four-tier cake served 240.
📹 Round Cake Portion Sizes | Cake Serving Size Guide
Round Cake Portion Sizes // Do you have difficulty figuring out what size cakes to make and how many servings you’ll get from a …
OMFG! I love your chart! Much easier to understand. I love that you include serving sizes for each layer, instead of the entire tier. AND you include serving sizes if you tort the layers. Amazing! Gives you a better idea of serving amounts if you are using different size pans. Love your articles and I am SO glad I found this one!!!
Karolyn – i did not find this article confusing. In fact, i think you are the most clear and organized instructor i know on YT. Thank you for all your generous sharing, hard work and thoughtfulness in bringing us content. I would greatly appreciate a article on how to stack these multilayer cakes. I searched and couldn,t find. My apologies if you have already shown this. Peace and love 💕
I guess my next question would be how do you determine what a serving is? Like how big are your servings!m? I would love to see how you would cut a 2 layer cake versus a 3 layer of the same size. (Like baking two 6″ cakes, but one being 2 layers and one being 3 layers and seeing how you would cut that to get your servings on the chart😅). As always, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!!!! God bless you!🙏🏼❤️
Thank you so much for this article !!! I completely understood everything as much as you may feel like it was hard to explain but you did it so well ❤ I appreciate every detail/information you provided. I’m a first time baker and I want to get in the depths of everything I need to learn about cakes and so far your website has helped me understand and learn, Thank you 🙏🏽
This was incredibly helpful!! I have been making myself crazy trying to work numbers on a cake to get the servings and have the cake aesthetically pleasing at the same time. I’m so happy I watched this. I’ve turned down two tier cakes before when I thought it wasn’t possible mathematically. AND, I love your concept with not making anything larger than 8″ to serve 30. I’ve made some big ass single tier cakes haha. I love this!! Thank you 💕💕💕
Your articles are always so wonderful and simply said and explained. For the more experienced decorators we can understand your serving sizes but for the beginner they may not understand how you come up with those numbers as far as cutting. Have you thought about doing a article on showing how you come up with those amounts by cutting a cake for a visual purpose?
Hi Karolyn! I can’t thank you enough for creating this article. Not confusing at all; you broke it down perfectly. It has been SO confusing trying to make sense of other bakers’ guidelines when it comes to cake servings and sizes. You are the first creator I have found that has included servings in regards to torted cakes! All others I have seen use 3 and 4 layers of cake per tier and I just couldn’t wrap my head around always making such tall cakes. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! (Also, I was perusal this article while doing some research for a friend’s wedding cake, and your little p.s. about wedding servings was right on cue 😉 just so, so helpful)
Thanks so much Karolyn for this detailed explanation – it’s a fantastic guide for beginners and experienced cake decorators alike (who may have gotten stuck in that boxed way of doing things)!! You are so sweet to share such detailed knowledge – not many cake bakers/decorators would share their expertise with others – so once again God bless you for that!
thank you for doing this article. I am so used to doing the standard 6″ and 8″ to feed 32 ppl, and now with your chart and how you explained it, it makes so much more sense. I will definitely be playing around with the different sizes to make them more interesting. I love your content. thanks again from a fellow home baker.
I can’t thank u enough for explaining this.. I have just started selling cakes and I get confused with cake sizes and servings all the time.. This makes it so much easier for me and my clients..bcs i think i confuse them as well.. lol. and i haven’t commented on any article EVER.. bt this content made me.. thanks again
Karolyns you are rock the cake you are showing on side article I believe they must be over $200 😊 I am perusal all of your articles but not till end so when I go in my history and watch again and send you comments and if I want then I asked questions 😀 but enjoying and taking knowledge from you thank you for sharing it’s look like I am going to keep you in my 👩🍳 list whom I like a lot Also when start perusal article and on the side shows all other articles link and I get tempted to watch this. Watch this and line up all articles put incomplete articles 😀because your articles are so nice 😊 And your explanation is so good feel like keep perusal 🤗🤗
Lol! The answer to your “why don’t they have odd sizes on the Wilton chart”… Because they don’t sell the odd sizes other than the 9″ pan. (I used to be a Wilton employee) The chart was made (forever ago) only to give you a guide to what pan sizes they sold. I’m old school with my 6-8-10 4″ high cakes, (2″ high cakes, 1 filling) but after perusal this article (and others of yours) I’m inspired to go outside of my box and try some of these other ways of stacking to make my cakes more unique. I always assumed that even if you go higher, the diameter of the cakes are still the same, and the Wilton chart was based off of an industry standard 1″x2″ slice. So I could never figure out how people got more slices off the taller cakes. Cutting them smaller to allow for the height does make sense. I’m exited to incorporate the new sizes in the coming year! I already have 5″ 7″ 9″ 11″ 13” pans, but never use them, lol. Thanks for your great articles! Always look forward to the next one coming out.
I have just discovered your website and wanted to say WOW! Thank you for sharing your process. It is so helpful to see!!! Question – Has a customer asked for sheet cakes to serve more guests? I did 2 this weekend and made 2 layers filled with buttercream. Now I think I should have done 1 layer. My layers are tall and it is difficult to place 1 on top of the other. Just wondering how you handle that request. Thanks again!! I am so grateful to find you!
Hi, Karolyn, I just saw one of your first articles on the Icing Images tutorial page last night. You were very informative so I decided to pop over to Youtube and check out a few of your other articles. This one on cake servings…WOW! I can see where some people, especially newbies could get really confused. It took me a minute but I finally caught on!! lol So basically if it’s a taller cake (because maybe you torted it) then it would be a narrower slice. Right? Also why do you not ever torte the 4 inch cakes? I can see where it might make it more difficult to ice the smaller layers but those just seem so darn thick. lol Thanks again for all of the info. You pretty much hit it right on the head at the end when you said ‘I hope when someone asks for a cake that feeds 24 that we don’t just automatically gravitate toward a 6″ and an 8″.” Which of course, like so many others I’m sure, that’s what I’ve always done. I can’t wait to print out your chart and start applying it.
Hi Karolyn, I have a couple questions. Firstly, THANKYOU this stuff is so challenging for me I suppose because I always want to make sure there is more not less cake in the end so I end baking way too much aaaanyway… and I’m sorry if you answer these in other articles. I’m just starting my cake business and trying to get these basics in place so I don’t have to think so hard about them going forward 🙂 1. With your cakes what thickness do you aim for? Are they all 2″ thick ? And then you, obviously, get 2 x 1″ torte layers? 2. I usually aim to get my fillings about 1/3 the thickness of the layer does this seem right to you? 3. You get more servings from a tier the more layers you add. Does that mean you cut “thinner” pieces the more layers you have? I know its probably obvious just wanna check. Thanks again you have been such an amazing help for me and you don’t even know it – and I am a HUGE Fat Daddios fan as well 🙂 D P.S. Yes I am the which-turntable-should-I-buy Dave! I ended up getting the Mondo Professional – no brake but I’m sure I’ll learn to modify my technique to get more proficient with it. Thanks again for your advice with that.
Hi, Happy new year. your cakes look beautiful and big. I love it. I am new a baker and I was looking at what size of cake sells more because I am trying to decide which size of the cake ( 6, 8, or 9 inches) should I sell and I end up with your article. Thanks for sharing all this information, because I was thinking a 6-inch cake is too small, people may don’t want it. but it seems I am wrong. it seems that 6,8, and 9 inches are the best size. Do you think I can sell a 6-inch cake with 4 layers? Each layer 2 inches high? is that good? but away you just won a new subscriber. once again thank you
Hi Karolyn! I love the idea of playing around with the layers and adding more tiers. However, does that change the price of the amount per serving? Or if a customer ask for a two tier for 30 people, do you offer different tier options with pricing as well? I really would like to start this idea as well as I think tall tiered cakes look very elegant. I’m just curious how to go about pricing the 3rd tier to feed the same amount of people as a 2 tier. I’m sorry I hope I didn’t sound too confusing lol
This was very helpful!!! Thank you. I do have a question though. So if I understand you correctly, the goal is to have a taller take vs shorter and fatter? So if a customer comes to you and tells you that they need “X” amount of servings you then go to your chart and design a cake and mess around with either 2 layers, 3 layers, torted, etc until you get the servings. Do you go over this with your clients and let them know that this tier might be 3 layers and then next might be 2, or 2 torted? Or do you just do it? Also, if making a single tier cake do you always torte? Or do just 2 layers?
Hey Karolyn! So if a customer asks for let’s say 30 servings do you typically go up the next size. For example, your 3 layer 8 inch serves 30. Would you recommend going up to a 9 inch 3 layer for a few extra servings just in case? Also, I would love what you personally would recommend to a customer for a 30 serving cake one tier. I wonder if it would look weird lol 😂. My customer is actually wanting a mushroom 🍄 shaped cake(Mario theme).
Karolyn it worldve been helpful if you had a cake that you cut into slices as that wouldve made more sense. I know it is difficult to explain but I understood it perfectly. My question arises when you double your serving sizes as you increase the layers. So if for eg. I could cut 10 servings out of one layer I can now cut 20 servings out of a 2 layer cake (I am not using your examples) my question then is.. Does one person get the nicely iced top part of the cake and another person get the filling as the top of the bottom piece? Hope the question makes sense. The reason why I am asking is because you cannot cut thinner slices because it is a double layer in order to get double the servings, because if it is so thin it will break. I know, I have. tried. This is where a sample cake would have helped your article.
I made a 2 layer 6″ cake for our anniversary last week. I just did a basket weave in white around the sides and filled the top with assorted flowers and green leaves. I didn’t torte it just 2 layers. There is no way that cake serves 12 in my opinion. The pieces would be extremely thin. We got 8 servings and haven’t finished it yet but half the cake gave us 4 servings.
OMG. I made cakes today with your recipe. And they are all good, but the red velvet is so so good. I had enough batter to fill a ten inch square and three cupcakes. So I had to try a cupcake. I also made a vanilla and a marble. Had a few vanilla cupcakes and a bunch of chocolate. I probably should have made half the chocolate recipe. But it was first time making a marble cake and also first time using your recipe, sooo I gotta alotta cupcakes lol. I was wondering do you have a recipe you use for a raspberry cake? Bc I have yet to find a raspberry cake mix. Was wondering how you do those? Also was wondering how you fill cakes with jams or things other than buttercream. I only bake for family usually. I have baked for friends occasionally. I have been asked by many people to do cakes, but I don’t really have my confidence built up yet to do that. I don’t know why. I think probably bc I get so nervous when I do a cake bc I’m afraid they won’t like it. Is that normal? Now I’m the one rambling lol. This is probably the longest comment ever, sorry but I just love perusal your articles. And enjoy learning as much as I can. I just need to do it more I think to get the confidence I need. Love the three recipes I tried today. You are correct they really are yummy and delicious !!! BTW thanks for the article today it really helped. I have a wedding cake coming up in January for a cousin who needs 60 servings and only wants a three tier cake.
I always tell my clients the cake should look like a triangle. Skinny and then a little fatter at the bottom. Fat one tier cakes are old school! Once in a blue I will make a 7″/9″ or 8″/10″ but it must have a huge topper. I tell my clients big fat 2 tier cakes with no toppers look like tree stumps! 😆 Please make a article on weddings and customers who don’t specify keeping the top tier. (When you can) thanks for all your advice always. 😊
Do you send a sketch of the cake for the customer prior to their order? Do you ask them if they’re okay with layers that are different heights? I’m just curious because I always try to push for taller cakes by introducing an additional layer, but atleast half of the time they would prefer to size up 🙄
Anyone who can help me understand please feel free to answer. I’m feeling a bit daft having to even ask this. Let’s say you’re going for height with an 8 inch cake. If you torte one 8 inch cake into 3 layers you’ll get height. If you bake 2 8 inch cakes and don’t torte them just put icing in between the 2 inch cakes you’ll also get height. But the cost of baking 2 -8 inch cakes in comparison to baking one 8 inch cake and torting it .. wouldn’t that be more cost efficient?
I make a cake 9 inch pan 2 high ain’t no way in hell it feeds 20 some people unless baby pieces normal adult size pieces im.lucky to get 9 if I’m lucky but that’s stretching it I might be able to go down to 8 but I wouldn’t do a 6 unless for kids or special orders that paper lies I don’t go by that at all unless 6 inch on top tier onto 8 or up