I am working on the contract for one of my bride's. She needs to serve 250 guests, and wants 5 tiers. The top is to be square/round/square/round/square for the base. Using Earlene's chart, the closest that I'm coming is 291. I figured a 8" sq; 10" rd; 12" sq.; 14" rd; and 16" sq.

Can anyone help me get closer to the 250 mark?

My mind is just mush right now...in addition to today's regular orders, I had three cake tastings back to back...all before 11am. Good news...I booked all three.

Thanks so much!
Amy

Congrats on the bookings! Sorry, I am of no help. Good luck

I got it worked out. Thanks anyway Seagoat!

My mind is just mush after this morning. I had to step away from the computer for a few minutes, and when I came back, I was fine. LOL. Just one of those days, I suppose.

First, what kind of construction is this going to be? Will it be stacked, cake-on-cake? Because I'm not sure that a 12" square will fit on a 14" round ..... a 12" square is 12" from side to side. But if you measure it corner to corner, it's about 17" (from a rough sketch I just did on a newspaper using a ruler). You'll have a 1.5" overhang on each corner.

I go by Wilton's wedding chart, since this is the industry standard and that's pretty much what most places cut by. Using this chart:

8S----32 servings
10R---38 servings
12S---72 servings
14R---78 servings
16S--128 servings

Total: 348 servings.

The difference between the two charts is 57 servings. At my rate of $3/serving, that's almost $175 you're leaving on the table. Plus you're going to have a lot of cake leftover and the bride may feel buyer's remorse, thinking YOU forced her into buying too much cake ('coz you know it's never their fault for how much they order! )

If she is adament about the square-round-square set up, you need to figure out what size cakes will fit on top of each other, or figure what style of construction you're going to use. Once you determine what will work in that regard, then you can start working on sizes.

What did you figure out? Because in your original configuration the squares will hang off the rounds below. Did you allow for that the next time you figured it up?

Sometimes to get the profile the bride wants you gotta charge her more for the servings involved.

So let's see, these will fit I think. An idea is make some paper patterns and see how these sizes do for you. 16s x 14r x 9s x 7r x 4s

4s = 8

7r = 18

9s = 40

14r = 78

16s = 128
_________
272 servings?

But check my math--there are no guarantees.

And this kind of cake looks pin headed--so heavy on the bottom with the bulky 16 and 14 then it narrows so abruptly ending in a squat little 4". But you don't want your stuff hanging off either. But charge her for these servings because that is her design. Or at least if you already priced this one you are aware of this for next time.

Happy cakin' to you.

16s 130
13s 80
10r 35
7r 15
4r 6
total 266

or

16s 130
13s 80
10s 50
7r 15
4r 6
total 281