I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around this and think I might just be overthinking things.  I had a friend ask me to a make a 3 tier cake for her husbands birthday, to serve 50-60 people.  Doing the cake calculator, with 4 inch tiers, I am looking at a 10, 8 and 6 inch.  That is the size of a decent wedding cake, though!  I know wedding cake slices are typically tiny but it just feels like I am figuring something out wrong here!  I do not want her to end up with too much cake though.

Should I do a 10, 8 and 6 or an 8, 6 and 4?

Thanks.

I'd say definitely the 10", 8" and 6".  I just did that size for 56 servings.

AI did an 8 10 12 earlier this year for 50 and half of the 12 inch was left over but that was it.

A 6-8-10 is 74 servings according to the Wilton chart which is the standard chart and works quite well for most people.. A 5-7-9 is 54 servings. If they're serving beer or liquor at the party, people tend to eat less cake.

If I were selling the 6-8-10 compared to the 5-8-9, the difference in price would be about $100. Some say the two cakes are the same amount of work, but it really depends on the decoration - for example if doing ball trim, you'll be glad you're only rolling those little balls for the smaller cake if you're up at 2 am doing it. The smaller cake is much easier to lift - it's a almost a whole 8 in round cake less in total volume. Just some thoughts.

Good luck.