Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

1
asked March 22nd 2015

Cake size to portions required

Hi, Madeitwithlove (I’m assuming it will be you who will answer 😉 ) I’ve been asked to make a cake to feed 30 children. I’ve looked up tables on line and they say a 10″ (3″ or 4″ deep) round cake will feed 28, but that sounds a lot to me. I would like to make a 4″ deep can. Can you give me any idea for size for a round cake please?

Xxx

1

Hi, Madeitwithlove (I’m assuming it will be you who will answer 😉 ) I’ve been asked to make a cake to feed 30 children. I’ve looked up tables on line and they say a 10″ (3″ or 4″ deep) round cake will feed 28, but that sounds a lot to me. I would like to make a 4″ deep can. Can you give me any idea for size for a round cake please?

Xxx

1

Hello Sue

I always get confused with portion sizes because it depends on how the cake is cut. On a 4″ deep cake you are getting a double layer which when divided up can yield up to 36 portions 2″ x 2″. You could get as many as 42 portions but 16 of the 42 will be under sized. We’ve just been drawing this out on some grid paper to try and get the best yield.
When the cake is facing you imagine a grid of squares and then mark off your portions remembering the depth.
Hope this makes sense. xx

0

I’m a bit confused. Are you working this out on a 10″?

0

Hi Sue

I want to apologise for confusing you.
To make it clearer and so that you can see it visually get a 10″ round piece of card and a 10″ square piece of parchment. Using a pencil and ruler divide the parachment paper into two inch squares to form a grid. Place the grid over the 10″ round card and you will immediately see how the cake would be cut up. On a 4″ tall cake with just one layer of filling this will give you 13 full size portions (2 x 2 x 4) and 8 undersized portions. This would be a very big portion. If you do 2 x 1 x 4 you will get 28 – 30. You can get more yield if you reduce the size of the portions.

If you prefer to use a chart this one looks good:
http://cakesbyvicki.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/cake-sizes-and-servings-per-cake-please.html

Hope this helps. Sorry it’s taken so long to get back, my laptop froze for some reason and wouldn’t let me type.

EDIT

Or use David’s chart right here on this site!
http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/how-to-decide-on-the-cake-portions

I don’t know why I didn’t give you that in the first place.

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Thanks Madeitwithlove. How do I follow the links? I can never get them to work :-/

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Hi Sue

Put your cursor at the end of the link starting http, left click and drag the cusor along the highlighted red link to the end, now right click.
A box will open, you’ll see ‘open link’ right click on that and you’ll be taken to the chart.
Unfortunately set links don’t appear as hyperlinks. When I see David on Friday I’m going to ask if this linking can be made more user friendly.
Let me know if you’ve managed to open it. x

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