My church is having a birthday party and would like me to make a cake that serves 80 people. Does anyone have an idea of how many cakes I need to make? I don't just want to do a boring sheet cake, but I would like to do stacked squares.
TIA!!
Terri
First of all you will need a serving guide to help you figure this out. Wilton has one that you can use.
Once you have a serving guide for each pan size. All you need to do is add up the number of servings until you get the desired number or just over what you actually need.
A few things to keep in mind:
Not everyone will eat cake. Having said that I prefer to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. In other words, I would recommend having slightly more that you need.
When thinking of the cake pan sizes you will use consider the size difference to keep things pleasing to the eye. For instance, if you are going to be stacking a 14 inch diameter then all of a sudden you top it with a 6 inch diameter cake it might look a little off balanced.
Here is the URL for the cutting guide
http://www.wilton.com/cakes/cake-cutting-guides/
I know it maybe easier for me to just give you cake sizes however, if you learn how to work this our on your own then you don't have to rely on others to do it for you. Kinda like That old saying, give a man a fish feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish feed him for a lifetime. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.
Yes, use the Wilton chart for figuring out which cakes to use. You might find you like the looks of a sq and round or a round w/a heart instead of all sqs. 
IndyDebi has a great cutting chart.......much easier to use instead Wilton's. Yes, use Wilton's for figuring the # of servings, but use Indy's for cutting the cake. Of course, a sq cake is super easy to cut
Along with what Cake_Princess said......some people might like your cake soooo much they will come back for 2nds. I certainly would not be afraid to make this cake for closer to 100 servings depending on the charts. Extra cake can always be frozen or sent home w/people.
10" square serves 50 + 8" square serves 32 = 82 servings. If you put large flowers on top of the 8" square, it won't look so much like a BIG empty surface. (here's a pic of what I mean: http://forum.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1297422 )
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