Hi guys, im so excited but so scared at the same time. a girl i work with's sister is getting married in august and the lady who was doing her cake isnt able to do it so they asked me. im confident enough with the cake (i did a two tier mothers day cake for them (attached) as i think her mum wanted to see what standard i was at and they were delighted and asked me to do it on foot of that so they know my cakes arent 100% flawless and perfect). its a three tier cream fondant covered stacked cake with sunflowers and ivy on it (lemon and chocolate for the flavours)

my problem is sizes. Its a wedding for 200 guests! now her mum is making 2 10 inch fruit cakes for behind the scenes so i need to work out how much cake i need for the rest. i was thinking ideally 12, 9 and 6 as i think smaller tiers look nicer for a three tier. i was on the Wilton site and they were suggesting like 16 inch and 14 inches for the bottom tiers - would these not look massive?? its a stacked cake so i even think a 6 on a 10 looks a little weird and then with a 14 on the bottom it would look very wide and strange??, i dont really want more than 3 inches between the tiers but i dont want to have to do a four tier either, as this is my first three tier and i think a fourth would put me over the edge!!

How many would the 2 10 inch fruit cakes serve? should i even make another say 10 inch chocolate for behind the scenes also or should i just increase the tiers. i just want it to look perfect - tall and elegant

Please help! thanks

If you do a 6, 10 and 14, you only have a 2" clearance between the tiers and the edges of the cake below it. I don't think that's such a big difference. Also depending on the way you do the ivy and sunflowers, you'll need that extra room so it doesn't look crowded. JMO Good luck with your wedding order. I'm sure you will do fine.

No wonder thay have confidence in your abilities! That is a great sunflower cake you created.
I know serving sizes for fruit cake is much different than what we do here in the US so i don't know how much help some of us will be for you.
Personally I find a 14, 10, 6 stacked set up will look really nice and balanced. I don't like to see 12, 10, 8, 6 For the most part, that looks very ackward to me.

Are they opposed to a 4 tier cake? Just add a 15inch layer to your 6-9-12 combo. I think that would be really pretty. Also, I'm not sure how much money you want to invest in this project, but Sugarshack DVD's are amazing (they are about $25 each). I bought the perfecting buttercream and the successful stacking. I completly changed the way I did things... and stacking/icing makes so much more sense to me now!

Good luck!!

I am looking at Earlene's chart and a 10" cake would serve 30. So, there you have 60 servings and that leaves you with 140 to make yourself.

Do they want a top tier to save for their anniversary? It's looking like no matter how I figure it they are going to be a bit over (ie 140 servings 14-12-10) but if you go 14-11-8 it's 115 servings. Both of those choices leave you with a larger top tier and nothing for them to save. I'd be tempted to go 14-12-10 and a top small tier to save.

Edited cuz i can't count

I do a LOT of 6/9/12/15 cakes. Serves 185 using the entire cake. And also, look into getting SPS for support.

thanks for all your replies. i think il go for 6, 10, 14. its gives me plently of room to play with to do the flowers and ivy on each tier and i trust yoy guys that it will look balanced! It also means i just have to buy one cake tin instead of two to have the right sizes - lol.

do any of you have pictures of cakes that you have done in 6, 10 and 14 sized tiers, id love to see them.

ps all the tiers will be sponge so no top tier of fruitcake will be saved.

thanks!

Normita asked: ........What is SPS?? ........

It stands for Single Plate System. It takes the place of the Wilton plates and pillars when stacking or separating tiers.
It is very sturdy so is a great way to support your cakes.

Read my signature line.

fruit cake servings are different from sponge cakes, becasue its so rich its cut much smaller. A 10" round will give you 68 servings and a 10" square 90 servings

http://www.cakemagic.co.uk/html/cake_portions.html

However, loads of people doesnt like fruit cake, so even if there are 136 fruit cake servings its not to say that 136 people wants fruit cake.

I did a cake with 4" difference between the tiers and it looked lovely.