I am making a cupcake tree for my co-worker/friend's wedding, and she is inviting 160 guests but ordering 120 cupcakes with a 6" topper cake, which means there is enough for about 130 people.

a- she doesn't have final #'s yet, so this may not become an issue.
b- if she does end up with more guests than cake, do you think this will be a problem?

Her thought is that not everyone has a piece of cake. I know that she is not doing this to save money - she tried cakes at other shops and at the end of the day just likes the taste of my cake more.

Should I suggest to her that she order enough to meet the guest list? Any horror stories on being short of cake that I could scare her with?

And don't tell me that only 70% of rsvp'd guests will show up - I've read your stories and I'm sorry, but we Canadians are just not that rude! Thanks for any help you can provide.

If you can count on the rsvp (i understand that you almost get exact numbers in Canada), you figure out the attending people number approaching the due date. Giving that info to the bride, i would make my advice about being short of cakes is not good, and if money is not the issue, she should be well prepared for the occasion...
If being short of cakes happened in my country, that would be a topic talked FOREVER)

If she's planning 160 definite guests and 130 servings, ask her which 30 will be told they don't get cake...

Of course some may not want cake, some may not even like cake, but no one wants to be told, "we don't have ENOUGH cake". And some may ask for seconds...lol

besides, leftovers...never a problem...least not where I live.

Hi
I agree she needs more cake. Over here in the UK you pretty much have a guaranteed number on the guestlist but I personally would die of embarassment if I ran out of cake. Besides over here (well in Scotland anyway don't know about Enland, Wales & N. Ireland) it is considered unlucky and rude to refuse a piece of cake - even if you don't eat / like it ( and we're usually talking heavy RI fruit cake!)
Anyways, my concern is not really her guests here, it's your reputation - I would hate for her to order a cake for X amount of guests, not have enough cake and then for people to assume you got your numbers / measurements wrong and didn't provide enough cake. Maybe I'm just imagining the worst but you can't really put up a sign beside the cake saying - First Come First Served coz the bride didn't order enough cake! so how else would they know this was not an error on your part? I would ask her to reconsider and think about things from your perspective too. What about a standby fruit cake that doesn't need to be displayed and can be kept for an anniversary if it isn't used?

Just my tuppence worth.
AnneMarie

oops, double entry!

Yeah, if it's isn't money, then she shouldn't worry about it...and likely agree right away to your suggestions. If not, then use homecook's idea...have her advise the specific 30 people she doesn't plan cake for...hahaha I love it!

I made 180 cupcakes plus a 6" cake for the B&G to cut a couple of weeks ago for a good friend. There were only about 150 people there and the cupcakes were devoured. Yes, people do take more than one and others do come back for seconds. I am not sure if there were people that didn't get one, but all I know is that there were only crumbs left. Oh - but the B&G kept their cake to take on the honeymoon.

So, if anything, I'd advise her to order a few more. You can always get a final number from her once the RSVPs have rolled in.

If she ends up sticking on the issue.. toss in a few extra. She's a friend, right?

It's not 60% of the RSVP's ... it's 60% of the TOTAL NUMBER of INVITED guests. So if she invited 160 x 60% = approx 96 expected guests.

So.... if one of my brides invited 160 and ordered 130, I'd tell her she may have some leftover, but she'd be fine. If she invited 200 and ordered 130, I'd advise her she may run close.

When you have cupcakes it's not like you can cut smaller pieces if you see there are more guests than anticipated...unless you cut a cupcake in half. LOL Anytime I do a cupcake tree the contract is written on the 60% rule and then when the contract deadline comes (3 weeks prior to event) the bride usually has her RSVP's back and we can add more if needed. I definately, with it being cupcakes, would make sure there are extra. People show up unannounced and yes, there are people who take two and come back for seconds. You can't stretch cupcakes like you can a regular cake.

Yeah.. it's not 60% of the RSVP's.. it's 60% or the original invite list. If she has 160 RSVP's and is only ordering 120 servings of cake then yes.. she'll need more. I'd ask her how they are going to know who doesn't get cake if they all come up for a piece.

You are guaranteed to not get 100% of your invite list at your wedding, but it's tacky to not order cake for all of your RSVP'd guests.

I don't think it's enough. A cupcake is half a serving or half the size of a piece of cake. If this is the only dessert then it's only fair to provide 2 cupcakes for each guest.

Actually if you cut up a cupcake you can form it into a wedding sized serving of cake (with some leftover in most cases). A cupcake is about 2.5" in diameter and 1.5 inches tall which is at least the equivalent of a 1x2x4 slice of cake.

Texas Size Cupcake Wrappers- do these fit in regular pans but they're taller? I've been looking for a pan that's bigger than the norm, but not jumbo.

And I agree, make more cupcakes, I can totally see people taking more than one, especially if they are serving themselves.

Better to have too many than too few...I'd go for more. I doubt she'll be upset that you made more than she asked for, especially if you do it for the same price...she is a friend and it is your reputation. Good Luck...be sure to post pics!

Yes, the Texas ones fit in a regular muffin pan, but taller. They are great for a glaze that I use ... there's enough paper standing above the cupcake to hold the glaze (see my ladybug cupcake in my pics to see what I mean)>

It's been our experience that people eat more cupcakes than cake. I tell my brides that with traditional cake it's normal to be conservative when you order - not everyone eats cake. But man do they ever devour the cupcakes. Sometimes I wonder if it's because they get to pluck their own off the tower or just the novelty of cupcakes or ?? I dunno, but we always make sure to have cupcakes for 100% of the RSVP's. And even MORE if we're doing minis (one mini per guest per flavor) and multiple flavors. Seems like everyone wants to try one of each of the flavors.

I did a cupcake and mini-cheesecake wedding -- the bride ordered more than the number of people - they did have a few extra guests -- but 15 minutes after they cut the cake, they were all gone. A lot of folks didn't get any - and a lot wanted another.

With cupcakes - people take more than one. And I seriously think people eat cupcakes that wouldn't normally take a piece of cake at all. There's just something about a cupcake. If it were me, I'd order at least 1-1/2 times my number of guests - and probably 2 times (2 for each guest). Hope this helps.

Well..if it were me I would order slightly more cupcakes or cake than guests who have RSVP-ed as I would be more embarassed to not have enough cake for everyone than too much!! JMO

I guess it depends on:

1) Will the cupcakes be 'served' by a wait staff? If so, then obviously, you need to have at least as many cupcakes as guests. If it's self serve, you can take your chances

2) Will there be another dessert served?

When I got married, the facility actually served their own dessert and had a small piece of cake on the side, so I underordered. I ordered a cake for 100 and I had 170 guests. There was still enough for take home bags.

I use mainly mixes in my cupcake baking and I usually yield around 36 cupcakes per mix. I use standard liners with a standard 12 cup muffin pan. I use the large scoop from pampered chef and then level that scoop off with a flat spatula (mini from wilton). Works perfect!

I can get 24 cuppies from a batch of cake that makes an 8" cake.. usually a few more. I have used mixes before and one mix makes an 8" cake (which is 24 servings according to wilton). I use the same scoop as the dessert diva does.

Homecook, you are right - "ask her which 30 will be told they don't get cake... "

When you pose it like that, the answer is obvious. And she is the type of person who would feel guilty at still having people in line for cake and running out . . . . . . . No one would ever consider ordering 120 chicken dinners for 160 people.

Thanks for your help everyone, I'll be sure to share your opinions with her and will let you know what she decides.

Hopefully she will 'let them eat cake!'

She simply needs to order more cupcakes because like others said, when it comes to cupcakes, people want more than one (I can't get a cupcake 2" tall, so I don't know how it's possible to get a wedding slice out of it, and besides, I do a 1x3x5 slice, so it's dinky for me)... I've been to FOUR weddings where I got the "there isn't any cake left" by the time they came to serve our table. Trust me, I was about to grab the piece of cake from the person next to me that only took one bite ...

There was a wedding last year I saw that the bride didn't order NEARLY enough cupcakes. The problem is that instead of fessing up to "I didn't think everyone would want any", it gets blamed on the baker that "the baker didn't make/deliver enough"...

Tell her she needs at least 1 cupcake per person attending. When she gets her final guest count to let you know. Tell her it would reflect poorly on you if you created a cake/cupcake tower that couldn't serve everyone and you won't bake for less than you need.