Hey Guys, I am doing the cake for our local Grad class, as a gift to them, but I have never done a slab cake this big. They want just a rectangle slab cake for 350 people!!! How big do I make it? Any size dimension ideas?

There theme is also Moonlit Beach, if any of you have ideas for that as well! Thanks for the help, just a newbie here trying to help out the local grads!

Wow, talk about trial by fire. And it's a gift to boot.

Unless you want to rent a truck to deliver it in and hire 4 brawny guys to carry it, I would advise against doing one single sheet cake to serve 350.

I suggest you do several half-sheet cakes....although personally, if I were in your shoes, I would insist on doing a multi-tiered cake. IMO, you can do a ton more awesome decorating on a multi-tiered cake than a flat sheet cake. And you could do many of the elements far in advance so when it's time to decorate the cake, you stick on your decorations, do some piping, and you're done. Another idea is a full sheet cake with a bunch of cupcakes.

But that's just what I would do. Since you're doing this as a gift, you should be able to have some say in the matter in what shape cake you are donating.

You can bake 5 - 12x18 Sheet cakes or 14x22 Sheet Cakes (if you have an oven that big) & decorate them sitting side by side with a continuous theme... Then you would just box them in different boxes and then place them together at the event. So when together (side by side) it will look like just one big cake.

Either option will give you more than 350 servings However, that will be easier than trying to match up different sizes. (sorta like when you put cupcakes together & do one design on top.)

HTH

A 12x18 cake that is 4" tall will serve 108 people. So if you do 4 you'll have plenty of servings. (you'll have to bake 8 12x18 cakes, but making a 4" tall cake reduces the footprint you'll have to travel with)

You could do 3 cakes but that will only serve 324, but it could give you an opportunity to make a small tiered cake for display while most of the servings are served, then when the other cake is gone you can cut into the tiered cake. This is probably what i would do.

Thanks Guys! That really helps! I do agree about the tiered cake, so I will bring that up as an option, as well as a sheet cake cupcake option! Again, thanks for the help!!

A 12x18 cake that is 4" tall will serve 108 people. I make that all the time and if you cut them small enough where there will be other deserts you will get more then 108 out of it also so you can most likely get away with making only 2 of them. Each one needs 2 cake mixes and can get the pans at Micheal's or Jo-Ann's I go to Micheal's for everything they are awesome.

Um, 4 cake mixes will not serve 350 guests unless you serve microscopic pieces. That is absolutely unrealistic.