Hi, my Mom wants me and my sister to make a cake for their club house opening...they are estimating 200 people. We're going to do 3 cakes that are just double layer sheets in various shapes. Just wondered how much cake should we plan to make? We have just been using boxed cakes, but think it's time to find a good recipe with higher yield. Any input would be greatly appreciated!!!!

I think you should plan to make enough cake to feed the estimated goal of 200 servings.

In a three-cake combo using double-layer slab cakes, you'd have enough servings using two 11x15s and a 9x13 (without taking into consideration how much cake you're carving away for the shapes you're going for).

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

How many servings you get, depends on pan sizes. How much better you need depends on which pan size.

You can totally use cake mixes when making larger cakes, you just need to use more than one or two, and in some cases three cake mixes per pan.

Two 2 layer 18x12 would give you 194 1x2x4in servings.

Three 2 layer 11x15 would give you 222 1x2x4in servings.

Four 2 layer 13x9 would give you 200 1x2x4in servings.

For a 18x12 you would need 14 cups of batter for every two in layer. So you would need about 3 to 3.5 mixes (depending on the brand and flavor) to make a two inch tall layer.

For a 11x15 you would need 11 cups of batter.

BC and Phil cake mixes generally make between 4-5 cups of batter. DH is usually between 5-6 cups of batter. In my experience, white/vanilla cakes are usually on the lower end of those numbers. Chocolate are in the middle to higher end. And the only one I have found that made a full 6 cups of batter is the DH Golden Butter Cake Mix.