3 Tier Wedding Cake For 200 People-Advice Needed For A Specific Cake Design...
Decorating By Lyoshka Updated 10 Apr 2014 , 1:38pm by howsweet
Hi there! making my first wedding cake. THIS is cake i'm making (purchased the tutorial), minus the flowers:
The cake has to serve 200 people. The bride wants 3 tiers. I'm making 14', 12', 10' tiers, using 2 inch pans. Confused about the serving chart. What would you suggest to make sure I accommodate 200 people? I'd rather go over in servings than not have enough. They are having a s'mores bar, but other than that, cake is main dessert.
I'm wondering if perhaps I should make it like this:
bottom tier- 14 inch, 3 X 2-inch cakes (each 2 inch cake will also be cut in half for fillings, so it'll be about 8 inches tall before ganache and fondant)
Second tier, 12 inch, 1 X 2-inch cake
Third tier, 10 inch, 3 X 2 inch cakes
Top tier, 8 inch, 3 X 2 inch cakes.
What do you think?
If there is a way to accommodate 200 people on three tiers, I'd rather do that, since she wants 3 tiers, but is that realistic? if it is, how tall should I make my tiers? And, how do you serve tall cake like that?
thank you so much! I hope someone can help!
The only way to get 200 servings out of a 3 tier cake is by a SQUARE 8/12/16 combo....but personally, I think an 8" top tier looks dumb...unless you have big, unique topper. All of my cakes are baked in 2" pans and I bake 2 per tier. I just don't have or would use 3" pans.
A good 4 tier (round) combo to serve 200 would be 6/19/12/16.
hi! thanks for your reply.
No chance to do a square cake, the cake i posted is the cake I'm making. The bride has an 8" simple topper that says "Mr and Mrs", so I think it would look good on either an 8" or 10" top.
Maybe I do 14", 12", either 8 or 10" (each with three 2-inch cakes) and then make an extra, say, 10 inch cake, same design, but not to be displayed-just to make sure they have enough servings?
would that give me 200 servings?
8" is quite tall for your bottom tier! If anything, I would cut out the 14" tier and make the 12" tier 8 inches tall, but treat it as two cakes (put each set of 4" on its own board, then cover the entire thing in fondant). Have the other two tiers be 4" tall. Then you would get two sets of 56 servings from the 12", 38 from the 10" and 24 from the 8". Total of 174 servings, which I know is under 200 but not everyone will eat cake anyways.
They paid for 196 servings, so I have to make at least that, and I want to make it more on the generous side, not the other way around. They may or may not eat the entire cake, but my only goal is to deliver what I promised :)
Originally Posted by jennicake
8" is quite tall for your bottom tier! If anything, I would cut out the 14" tier and make the 12" tier 8 inches tall, but treat it as two cakes (put each set of 4" on its own board, then cover the entire thing in fondant). Have the other two tiers be 4" tall. Then you would get two sets of 56 servings from the 12", 38 from the 10" and 24 from the 8". Total of 174 servings, which I know is under 200 but not everyone will eat cake anyways.
They paid for 196 servings, so I have to make at least that, and I want to make it more on the generous side, not the other way around. They may or may not eat the entire cake, but my only goal is to deliver what I promised :)
Oh oops, sorry. For some reason I thought you were doing this as a gift or something. Must have gotten you confused with a different thread! Yes, totally agree... need to provide whatever is being paid for :)
ASo they paid for the amount of portions they need - not for the amount of cake that the tiers will render?
I had a cake friend who, when she was just starting out, used to do a stupid thing. If the couple needed, say, 174 portions, and the sizes and amount of tiers gave, say, 183 portions - she wouldn't charge them for those extra servings.
I was really irritated at her and told her so. She didn't think it mattered so much - it was like a little present to the couple. I asked her how long she'd been doing this and she said oh a year or so.
I told her to take out her order book and count up, for the past two years, exactly how many portions of cake she had given away (all types of cake - not just wedding), and the total worth of all that cake.
Two days later she called and admitted how stupid she'd been!
Here's a link for wedding cake servings so you can decide which sizes you need. Hopefully, you'll reconsider the amount of free cake you're giving for your next order.
http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-wedding-cake-2-inch-pans.cfm
I would do a 6, 8, & 10 OR 6, 10, & 14 and make whatever else that was needed as a kitchen cake.
8" top would look terrible IMHO, as someone else has already stated.
If you have dummies that you can physically show her what they will look like, I am sure you can convince her what will look best. If your cakes tend to be taller than the typical 4" dummies, I would explain that as well.
I'm sorry, what is your point?
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So they paid for the amount of portions they need - not for the amount of cake that the tiers will render?
I had a cake friend who, when she was just starting out, used to do a stupid thing. If the couple needed, say, 174 portions, and the sizes and amount of tiers gave, say, 183 portions - she wouldn't charge them for those extra servings.
I was really irritated at her and told her so. She didn't think it mattered so much - it was like a little present to the couple. I asked her how long she'd been doing this and she said oh a year or so.
I told her to take out her order book and count up, for the past two years, exactly how many portions of cake she had given away (all types of cake - not just wedding), and the total worth of all that cake.
Two days later she called and admitted how stupid she'd been!
Ok, just to clarify. This is my first hired cake, so yes, I'm new and don't know all the ins and outs of business, so please go easy on me....
Originally, we talked about a 4 tier cake. They estimated 180 people, when I quoted them 196 servings in a 14, 12, 10 and 8 tier cake, they paid me for 196 servings it provides.
I have since found the design we are all discussing now, and brought it up to the bride's attention as a possibility. She liked it, minus the flowers. She also likes it as a 3 tier design (I agree). I'm not going to change prices and contracts at this point. Right or wrong, irrelevant. That is what the situation is right now. I have been paid for 196 servings, so I"d like to deliver 196 or more servings. Yes, I may be giving a few extras, depending on the amount of cake tiers and at this point in time, I'm completely fine with it. I'm sure as time goes on, I will figure out my way in the pricing and designs to get super precise. Right now, I need to make this cake work and 196 people fed :) Hope this makes sense.
They have an 8" topper (says Mr and Mrs), so if I make the top tier less than 8", won't it look odd?
at this point, not going to pursue cake dummies. The contract has been signed, the wedding is in 9 days, so I'm not going to burden them with any kinds of changes past what we had discussed.
I was already leaning toward an extra cake as a kitchen cake when you suggested this. I think it's the best idea. Making my tiers crazy tall or big (16") with this design will not be great, I think. Now I just need to figure out whether to do a 6, 10 and 14, or 8, 10 and 14 (or some other combo) and make an extra cake as kitchen cake.
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I would do a 6, 8, & 10 OR 6, 10, & 14 and make whatever else that was needed as a kitchen cake.
8" top would look terrible IMHO, as someone else has already stated.
If you have dummies that you can physically show her what they will look like, I am sure you can convince her what will look best. If your cakes tend to be taller than the typical 4" dummies, I would explain that as well.
AI think that design looks lovely in any number of tiers and sizes. https://www.google.com/search?q=4+tier+birch+tree+cake&client=safari&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=UAkEUrL3G7Oh4AOZw4EI&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAA&biw=1024&bih=672
I think that design looks lovely in any number of tiers and sizes.
https://www.google.com/search?q=4+tier+birch+tree+cake&client=safari&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=UAkEUrL3G7Oh4AOZw4EI&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAA&biw=1024&bih=672
Ok, problem seems to be solved! Just talked to the wedding planner and confirmed that the cake topper is 7 inches across and has pins to go into the cake in the middle of the topper (not the sides, like I feared). So, I'm making 6, 10 and 14 inch tiers which will feed 128 people. The other tier will be a kitchen cake :) This way, the display cake works out exactly how it needs to with the wood effects, and I can still accommodate extra servings.
whew..... now off to bake!
Thanks for your input and help, everyone!
Hi,
I see that this was last year but for future reference if you put your cake logistics into the this app "cake slicer" http://cakeslicer.bakingit.com it will tell me how many slices you can get out of your cake depending on portion sizes. That way you can let whoever is cutting the cake know how large to cut the servings and show them the guide for cutting. I use this site all the time so that customers can see the logistics of their cake.
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