Hi there,

I just received a confirmation for a wedding cake order for June 27th. Its gonna be a 2-tier heart shaped cake. To serve 150pax.

Please help me out - what size pan should i use for both the tiers that can serve 150pax? How much should I charge. It is gonna be a fondant covered chocolate cake.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

I don't think you can get that many servings with a 2 tier heart shaped a 12" and 15" would only serve 105, not sure about the look , maybe someone else will have better idea. Bump

Well..The largest heart pan is a 15 inches and it serves 65 double layer.You may have to make it 3 tiered to get your 150 servings because you won't achieve it with a 15 inch and smaller.You might want to consider putting a slab cake underneath or hand carving a larger heart cake underneath to get your servings needed.

I use Earlene Moore's chart to detemine servings..You can also use Wiltons chart online or in any yearbook!

http://earlenescakes.com/ckserchart.htm

I charge $3.00 per serving for Buttercream..$5.00 for fondant plus extra for Toppers, and of course delivery.

Isn't there a 16" heart shape pan? I am just looking in the back of a Wilton yearbook and they have 16" heart shape pan listed which serves 96 wedding sized servings. Not sure if they make it anymore or not? If you can find a 16 and make a 12" (wilton says 12 will serve 56, so 59+94=150). I'm just going by Wiltons, not experience, mind you.

For pricing, if it's fondant, mine start at $3.50 per serving, and can go up depending on the design.

I would call around your area to see what the going rate is for a similar cake.

Here's the wilton chart and it shows a 16" pan...... a 16 and 14 would do it; a 16 and 12 would do it.

But I think those cakes would look weird with a 14" or a 12" top tier. Short and squatty just doesn't do it for me.

I'm always amazed at brides who try to design their own cakes like this: "I want a 2 tier cake to serve 924 people". WTH???? They know nothing about cakes or cake sizes yet they want to dictate the sizes. Then of course it's YOUR fault if they have too much, not enough or if it looks stupid.

Here is a 16" pan available from Country Kitchen
http://www.countrykitchensa.com/catalog/product.aspx?T=1&productId=624726

I would consider three tiers though, I think it will look better with such large tiers.
Tracy

I recently worked with a real sweet couple who was on a tight budget. She knew she wanted 3 tier round square round and i could have either made it for way too much or under by about 30 slices. So instead of ending up with too much or something she didn't want i did a sheet cake to be cut in the back at the time of the cake cutting. I think this makes for a nice way to add slices, achieve the cake a bride wants and the guests have no idea.

You can always look at the biggest pan you have and see if you can cut it into a heart.

I had to quit buying pans for a while and that's what I did for a heart shaped cake.

thank you so much for all your replies and tips. have been making some calls ard and the biggest size i can get here is the 14".

kr1970- your idea of doing a sheet cake to cut at the back sounds gd to me. thanks.

indydebi - u are absolutely rite abt brides dictating to us what they want and how they want it to be. the worst are those who put their feet down and refuse to hear us out.

cakes22/kiddiekakes - thanks for the tip on the pricing.