How much wedding cake do I need?
Palette knife painted buttercream wedding cake by Emma Page Cakes London
Many wedding cake size guides you’ll find online are out of date and based on cake tier sizes that are much wider and shorter than we make now. Here’s a guide to how many a modern wedding cake will serve.
The size of your wedding cake depends on a few things. The most important consideration is whether it’s going to be served as dessert or with coffee, or with drinks alter in the evening.
If your cake is going to be served as part of your wedding meal, perhaps with some fresh berries, the slices will usually be the depth of each tier (my cake tiers are usually four layers tall, and measure around 6 inches), and 2 inches by 1 inch across the top.
If smaller servings are going to be taken by guests themselves, they will be half this size and my TOP TIP is that you instruct your caterers to cut slices in half horizontally so they have two layers of sponge. Nobody will want to juggle a long thin piece of cake to eat with one hand!!
One of my standard three tier wedding cakes will yield around 46 dessert portions and 92 party portions. You can add two layers to any tier to create more servings, or a whole tier. Adding a ten inch base tier will give you an extra 44 dessert or 88 party portions.
It’s important to remember that if your cake is to be served to table as dessert it will need to yield at least as many servings as you have guests. For party portions you can cater for around 80% of your guests, although it’s better to over-cater and your DJ, photographer and videographer will all appreciate a slice!
I always recommend couples opt for extra height rather than width, as ideally a wedding cake should be visible across the venue.
If you drop me an email I’ll let you know what size of cake I would recommend for your number of guests and a guide to how much that would cost. emma@emmapagecakes.co.uk
Wedding cake serving guide by Emma Page Cakes London