how to tell...

Here you go :) http://www.earlenescakes.com/ckserchart.htm

yes and

http://www.wilton.com/wedding/wedding-cakes/wedding-cake-data.cfm

and

http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-party-cake-2-inch-pans.cfm

some people use earlene's chart some use wilton's

there's wilton wedding size servings and wilton party size servings

what each decorator does is decide which size serving they want to offer and go with that--so it's a matter of informing your clients too as to the exact size serving they are purchasing

i use wilton wedding cake size servings for everything myself--it is considered the industry standard--but nothing is ironclad in caking

Here is one of my favorite tools.  I think it was made by somebody on this site, if I remember correctly, but I don't remember who  :-)  http://shinymetalobjects.net/cake/calculator/cakulator.cgi
 

yes shiny metal object thingy is awesome! but my new favorite tool is an app on my iphone called the tiered caker, i just put in my serving number and it gives you a bunch of size options to tell your client. I love it, cost 8 bucks and well worth it for an on the go type of person like myself:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alimoore 

Im new to making cakes and i wanna price based on servings but i have no idea how tell how many a cake can serve. Ive seen people look at cakes and can tell how many people it will serve but im just clueless lol. can somebody tell me how to do this? thanks.

It all comes with practice and a learning curve.  If you've made, cut, and served 10+ wedding cakes, you will develop skills and will be able to "look at a cake and know how many it will serve".   If you have only made, cut and served one two- or -three tier cake, you will gain a HUGE amount of respect for people that KNOW how to cut & serve!   Trust me, it's waaaaaaay harder than it looks; especially if there is a line of people waiting for their piece of cake!

Ducky316 and K8Memphis provided the links to charts that most people use in the USA.  Here are some other links that may help you visualize the size of a "serving", and how to cut a cake.

How to Cut a Wedding Cake, by Indydebi  http://cateritsimple.blogspot.com/search/label/cake%20comb

Lark Cakeshop Cake Serve Guide  http://larkcakeshop.com/CakeServeGuide2.pdf

Sample serving sizes made of paper or cardstock  http://www.wilton.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=142470&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=