As cake decorators, we all need basic cake serving charts, cake portion guides, and popular tier combinations. They are necessary when conducting a cake consultation. Being prepared and having these charts on hand makes you look professional and gives you more confidence to conduct business with customers. These charts come in handy for me when I need a quick reference and I hope they will come in handy for you too.
Table of Content
Have you ever wondered
- How much does an 8-inch cake serve?
- How many slices in a 7-inch round cake?
- or How many servings in a cake?
- Or are the servings for round or square cakes the same?
- How much cake do I need to serve - 56 people? or 100 people?
- Which cake sizes can I stack together?
- What are the most popular cake tier combinations?
These are all great questions and ones you need to be asking if you plan to make cakes or become a cake decorator.
Cake consultations
A very professional approach is to do your homework before the client comes for a cake consultation. This means having your cake sizes ready so you would know how many people does each cake serves. Plus, it gives you a better understanding of how much you need to charge, especially if you charge per serving like me. You can read more about cake consultations on my post - How to conduct a cake consultation
Here are some basic chart guides that I find handy when I am doing my cake consultations. I do hope you find them useful too.
Reference, measure, serving size
These charts are based on a wedding cake servings size of 1" x 2" portion. It is different from the party size serving a portion of 1.5 x 2 " or smaller. So, these are wedding cake serving sizes. These are 4" to 6" tall cakes, which means each layer is 2" tall x 2 or 3 layers for each tier
Cakes from 3" to 6" high decorated as one cake would give the same number of servings because they follow the same pattern of cutting. So, yes whether a cake is 4 inches tall or 6 inches tall you would still serve it as one slice. You don't usually split the slice. So while you use more cake, it's a tall slice of cake and does not contribute to extra servings.
Anything smaller than 3" tall would give only half the number of servings.
For example:
An 8" round cake - 3" / 4 " /6" tall will give you 24 servings
but an 8" round cake - 2" tall will give you only 12 servings.
An 8" round cake - party servings - 9 servings
Cake portion guide
These servings are for 2 layer cakes - for example, 2 x 8-inch layers make one cake.
- Party size is 1.5 x 2" x 4-inches tall
- Wedding cake size is 1" x 2" x 4-inches tall
| Shape | Size in/cm | Party Cakes | Wedding Cakes | Batter cups 2 layers | Baking Time mins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round | 4 in / 10 cm | 8 | 8 | 2 | 15 - 20 |
| 5 in / 12 cm | 10 | 10 | 3 | 20 - 25 | |
| 6 in / 15 cm | 12 | 14 | 4 ½ | 25 - 30 | |
| 7 in / 18 cm | 16 | 18 | 5 | 30 - 35 | |
| 8 in / 20 cm | 20 | 24 | 8 | 35 - 40 | |
| 9 in / 23 cm | 24 | 32 | 10 | 40 - 45 | |
| 10in / 25cm | 28 | 38 | 12 | 50 - 60 | |
| 12in / 30cm | 40 | 56 | 16 | 60 - 70 | |
| 14in / 35cm | 63 | 78 | 22 | 65 - 75 | |
| 16in/ 40 cm | 77 | 100 | 30 | 80 - 90 | |
| Square | 4 in / 10 cm | 8 | 12 | 4 | 30 - 35 |
| 6 in / 15 cm | 12 | 18 | 6 | 40 - 45 | |
| 8 in / 20 cm | 20 | 32 | 12 | 45 - 50 | |
| 10in / 25cm | 30 | 50 | 18 | 55 - 65 | |
| 12in / 30cm | 48 | 72 | 24 | 70 - 80 | |
| 14in / 35cm | 63 | 98 | 32 | 75 - 85 | |
| 16in/ 40 cm | 80 | 128 | 44 | 80 -90 | |
| Heart | 6 in / 15 cm | 14 | 4 | 30 - 35 | |
| 8 in / 20 cm | 22 | 8 | 40 -45 | ||
| Sheet | 7 x 11 | 24 | 32 | 11 | 45 - 50 |
| 9 x 13 | 36 | 50 | 20 | 50 - 55 | |
| 11 x 15 | 54 | 74 | 22 | 55 - 60 | |
| 12 x 18 | 72 | 98 | 32 | 60 - 75 |
Standard cakes serving chart
Popular tier combinations
Additional information to keep handy is the most popular tier combinations for tiered cakes. So you know which cakes work best together. Cakes stacked from the border to narrow to the top are aesthetically more appealing. For example, a 12, 10, 8, 6 look more appealing than a 12,11, 6, 5 - just saying.
Standard, Tall, or Tiered cakes
I often get people messaging me as to what the size of a cake should be. I know this is confusing especially when you are working on pricing your cakes.
- Standard cake - a standard cake is a 2 layer cake with one layer of frosting usually 4 to 5 inches in height. The shape of the cake, not the height will often determine the number of servings for example
- an 2 x 8-inch round cake (4 iches tall) makes 24 wedding cake servings or an
- 2 x 8 -inch square cake (2 layers) will make 32 wedding cake servings.
- Tall cakes - these are usually 6 to 7 inches tall with 2 or 3 layers of cake. Though the cake is taller and you use more cake batter the cake will still give you the same number of servings as astandard cake. They just make taller slices. So, for example
- an 2 x 8-inch round cake (6 inches tall) makes 24 wedding cake servings or an
- 2 x 8 -inch square cake (3 layers) will make 32 wedding cake servings.
- Double barrel or tiered cakes - there are two standard cakes stacked together as one. For exampe -
- You can stack 2 x 8-inch round cake - each 4 to 5 inches tall to make an one 8 inch double barrel or tiered cake thats 8 to 10 inches tall.
Though this looks like one cake it is two cakes ( 4 x 8-inch layers stacked as one) stacked as one. They will have a cake board in between which means at the time of serving you will serve this as two standard cakes. 24 + 24 - 48 wedding cake servings.
- You can stack 2 x 8-inch round cake - each 4 to 5 inches tall to make an one 8 inch double barrel or tiered cake thats 8 to 10 inches tall.
In this collage, you can see all three examples.
- Wedding cake with 4 standard cakes all 4 inches tall
- Wedding cake with all tall tiers each 6-inches tall
- and Wedding cake with a double barrle in the middle 8-inches tall
Frequently asked questions
It really depends on the shape, purpose, the person cutting the cake. For example
An 8" round cake - 3" / 4 " /6" tall will give you 24 servings
but an 8" round cake - 2" tall will give you only 12 servings.
An 8" round cake - party servings - 9 servings
It depends on the size, shape, and purpose of the cake. For example, a 10 inch round cake - party servings will make
Cakes from 3" to 6" high decorated as one cake would give the same number of servings because they follow the same pattern of cutting. So, yes whether a cake is 4 inches tall or 6 inches tall you would still serve it as one slice. You don't usually split the slice. So while you use more cake, it's a tall slice of cake and does not contribute to extra servings.
It depends on the size, height, and how thick you frost your cake. Having said that you can use my buttercream 101 table as a guide.
It depends on the size, height, and thickness of the rolled fondant. Having said that you can use my fondant quantity chart as a guide
Did you enjoy this article/tutorial?
Don't forget to share it with others who might benefit from this tutorial. And, of course, leave a comment to let me know what you thought about this tutorial or article.
You can also find a collection of my tutorials and recipes on Pinterest. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more
Natalie
Hey there,
So I'm curious if I was to make a cake that's taller than 6". how many layers of cake would you recommend? Also how much buttercream should I be using between each layer? is there a height ratio for this as well?
I'd like to make a 2 tiered "tall" cake. I'm not sure what size cake I should be doing but it needs to serve 50 people. Maybe 10" round and a 6" round, what do you think?
My last question if is I am making a cake that is say, 8" or 10" tall, would you recommend putting a cake board in the middle of the cake to help support the layers?
Thanks is advance:)
Veena Azmanov
Natalie. If each layer of cake is 2-inch tall then you would need 3 layers for a 6-inch tall cake. Accordingly, you would need about 4 to 5 cups of frosting. read how to level, forte, fill cakes successfully.
You can also make a 9, 7, 4-inch cake which will be 58 servings. But of course, it is three, not two tiers.
Yes, you must always put a cake board below each cake and support the top cake on the bottom cake with dowels. read how to dowel a cake