Just met with a bride who has her heart set on an octagon shaped wedding cake. I don't have a servings chart for that shape in my portfolio book that I bring to Consultations, and can't seem to find a chart online. Does anyone have a breakdown of servings per tier size that they can share with me?

Also, instead of spending $130+ on a full 5-pc set of Octo-pans, do you think I can use those cutter rings that Fat Daddios sells?

Thanks much!!

I bet they are pretty similar to hexagons in terms of portions.

Earlenes cake serving chart - Larger portions then Wiltons...

http://www.earlenescakes.com/ckserchart.htm

Wiltons cake serving chart:

http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-party-cake-2-inch-pans.cfm

I use the same serving guidelines as for a round.

To bake and octogon, I just bake a square and take off the corners (using a mathematical formula my husband came up with!)

HTH

Thanks, all! Oh Evoir, I never thought of starting out with square layers! Of course that would work well!! Now I don't have to worry about buying Octo-pans, as I already own square ones. Would you mind sharing the math formula your husband came up with? I'd appreciate it!

By the way, do you charge more for these multi-angled cakes? I mean because of increased time spent with all the corners.

Thank you!

No problem! I love to be able to share tips that have made my life easier...
I will give you the easiest way to look at it:

You need to measure the side length of your completed cake, and then from each corner, measure in (0.2929 x length of side) - this will give you a right angled triangle which you chop off each corner, and the hypotenuse side will be the same length as the square's side (if that makes sense). Each of the 8 sides should thus be the same length.

So if your square side is exactly 10 inches, then mark from each edge a measurement of (0.2929 x 10 inches) and cut away the corners!

Hope this helps! In terms of the wastage, you could charge for the whole square (as you are essentially carving it), or you can just make cake balls or give it to the kids and husband to eat for dessert

Do you have a local cake shop that rents cake pans? That may be easier

I made an octogon wedding cake once and it was a true PITA! I did bake square layers and used the same formula as above and cut off the corners. My octogon cake was iced in BC and it was so difficult to get the edges defined. I wouldn't do it again...but the bride and groom had 8 children between the two of them and she wanted the symbolism of 8 sides. It's in my pics somewhere, one of the earlier ones, if you wanted to take a peek.

Evoir, that makes perfect sense. Thank you!

MadameRaz, I found the cake to which you refer and it's really pretty! Now that you mention Octagons just wanting to be circles, it got me thinking about something. The cake my bride wants is only for 120-130 people, so using a round chart it would be a 14/10/6. That little 6" tier is going to be a PITA to cut in trying to make little tiny Octo-corners!! I think I'll suggest to the bride that we do a base Octo, and do the other two square and see what she thinks.

Thanks all for helpful, thoughtful, funny advice!