| Serving Counts for Wedding Cakes |
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| The number and size of the servings that you will get from your wedding cake is based on four factors: 1. Which cake-cutting chart is your baker using to determine the number and size of tiers that you'll need? 2. How high is each tier? 3. Is the top tier included in the serving count? 4. Who will be cutting the cake, and how do they do it? |
| 1. |
| Cake cutting charts vary, and sometimes by a lot. Because of that, I took my cake pans and marked off the size of the servings that I would cut from one of my cakes, and I came up with my own charts. I estimate my servings at 1" by 2" by the height of the cake, and although the Wilton charts also indicate that size, I find that you can't get as many servings out of each tier as they say you can. |
| To compare, here are the servings counts for two wedding cakes, one from the Wilton chart, and one from mine: |
| This affects your cake in two ways. If you get your cake from me, your serving sizes will be larger, which means that your guests will be served a larger slice of cake. For this reason, you can use a wedding cake that I make as the only dessert at your reception, and your guests will get an ample slice. Second, you'll be paying less for the same size cake, since most bakers estimate cost by a per-slice fee. You could go ahead and cut the pieces smaller to get more servings, but still pay for the smaller amount. |
| How tall are the tiers that will be on your cake? Some bakers use 3" tall pans, then may or may not cut them in half to add a filling in the middle. Others, including myself, use 2" tall pans, then put one to three layers of fillings in each tier. This gives you a tier that will end up being between 3 1/2 to 4" tall. The higher the tier, the more generous the serving size that will be served to your guests. |
| 2. |
| The top tier of the cake is traditionally saved for the bride and groom so that they can save it for the first anniversary if they want to. Because of this, most bakers don't include it in the serving count, and the couple is not charged for it. Even if you plan on having me make an anniversary cake for you and you'd like to serve the top tier at your reception, the reception staff will most likely save the top tier for you because they're so used to doing it. Make sure that your baker is not including the top tier in your total serving count, and if they are make sure that they will alert the staff to serve it. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| Of all the factors, this one may be the most important! Your baker can do all the estimating in the world, but if the person who cuts the cake cuts smaller slices, your servings will differ. Because of this, I take cutting instructions with each cake, and indicate what the size of each slice should be. In addition, because of the size that I'm estimating for my servings, you'll probably get more, rather than fewer, servings if someone cuts the slices according to a different cutting chart. I also indicate that the server should cut the tiers "square," rather than the traditional round way. If someone cuts the cake "round" anyway, they will get more servings than I estimate. |
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