I am so confused about the serving sizes of cakes!!! The more research I do to try and figure it out the more confused I get. It can't be this difficult! Earlene's, Wiltons and all of the other charts I look at all seem to be different. I even tried to get out my cake pans and figure it out myself but I come up with something different. I am looking for 1 1/2 by 2inch serving sizes for round cakes. Help! I am my wits end!
The serving sizes I am most interested in are for the following round sizes:
14 inch
12 inch
10 inch
9 inch
8 inch
6 inch
Thanks guys!! I'm sure someone out there can clear this up for me before I pull my hair out! 
Wilton's party size serving is 1-1/2 x 2.
Using Wilton's charts (for 2 & 3" deep pans) will give you the info you're seeking:
http://www.wilton.com/cake/cakeprep/baking/times/index.cfm
HTH
Wilton's wedding sizes are 1x2x4. Earlene's are more realistic. You can always average the two. I'd rather have too much than not enough.
Note: I tried to send this message a moment ago, and I think I may have accidently hit the "report as a bad post" icon. If so, please disregard.
I use Earlene's only and have never had any complaints on servings. I would rather have more than not enough cake. Earlene's are more generous in sizing then wiltons.
Here's a visual aid for the different cake serving sizes:
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=88648
Wilton's wedding serving size is 1 x 2 x 4.
Wilton's party serving size is 1-1/2 x 2 x 4
Last slice is 2 x 2 x 4
HTH
I use Earlene's only and have never had any complaints on servings. I would rather have more than not enough cake. Earlene's are more generous in sizing then wiltons.
I completely agree! I use Earlene's chart as well.
with my cakes ending up around 5-6" tall , to me, the wedding cut of 1x2 is PLENTY! cake is a treat, not a meal, i LOVE to eat it, but seriously, we dont NEED to eat a huge piece. i use the wedding size slice even for party and occasion cakes. less waste.
Janh
Thanks for the visual regarding the wilton slices! One question though. It looks like the slices on the wilton cutting guide are tapered in somewhat so that the out side of the slice may begin as 1 1/2 but the center of that slice would be smaller. (kinda like a pie slice)
The picture visual for the slice sizes you attached seem to be uniform in size. Hope that makes sence. Do the wilton slices end up uniform or are they slightly tapered? I just may have to go bake a cake and test that out! 
tonyab, the tappered looking slices are from cutting into a round cake. i dont cut like that any more, let me find a link for you of another thread that talks about how to cut rectangular slices even from round cakes. much better.
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=56739&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0
tonyab, you don't have to bake a cake - just turn your cake pan over and copy the appropriate cutting guide onto the bottom. 
But I must say I'm very intrigued by the "strip" method of cake cutting.
Just saw step-by-step photos on indydebi's website:
http://cateritsimple.com/_wsn/page19.html
Whoo Hooo, this makes so much sense, and is so simple compared to the circle method used by just about everyone else.
A BIG thanks to melysa, indydebi and aobodessa. 
thanks everyone for your feedback on this! I was getting so fusterated. After I get this figured out I will have to move on to pricing which also seems to be an ongoing topic.
I am going to try the strip method Melysa and Janh suggested and see what I come up with for serving sizes. It looks to be the simplest way and after all my moto for everything is "keep it simple, stupid". 
Janh- I only suggested baking the cake to test out the serving sizes so I could eat it!!! Yum yum. But to save my waist size I will turn the cake pans over.
thanks again all!
The way I calculated my servings is I first figured the volume of a serving: I use a 1" W x 3" L x 4" H piece as my serving. The volume of each serving is found by multiplying the W by the L by the H, so the volume of each serving is 12.
Then I found the volume of each size cake. For the square cakes, it was easy, just width x length x height. The round cakes are harder: pi x radius(squared) x height. (pi is 3.14). Once I had the volume for each cake, I divided the pan's volume by the volume of a serving and that gave me the number of servings for that pan.
For example: an 8 inch square cake that is 4 inches tall has a volume of 256 (8 x 8 x 4), 256/12 = 21 servings. A 8 inch round cake that is 4 inches tall has a volume of 200.96 (the diameter is 8 and the radius of a circle is 1/2 the diameter, so the radius is 4; 4 squared is 16 and 16 x 3.14 x 4 is 200.96), 200.96/12=16.
If your servings are 1-1/2" x 2" x 4 (I'm assuming your cakes are 4" tall), then the volume of each serving is also 12 (even though your pieces are shaped differently than mine! ).
Here is my info for round cakes (including my prices, which are $2 per serving for basic buttercream and no special filling):
Size...Servings...Cups of Batter...Circumference...Base Price
4......4..............1.....................13"....................$ 8
5......6..............1-1/2...............16"....................$ 12
6......9..............2.....................19"....................$ 18
7.....12.............2-1/2................23"...................$ 24
8.....16.............3......................25"...................$ 32
9.....21.............5-1/3................29"...................$ 42
10...26.............6......................32"...................$ 52
12...37.............7-1/2................38"...................$ 74
14....51............10....................45"...................$102
16....67............15....................51"...................$134
18....84............22....................57"...................$168
20....104..................................69"...................$208
What do you all say about a 12x18x2 sheet cake? Wilton says 56, do you think that is accurate?/
prterrell
THANKS!! I have to say WOW! I guess I should have payed attention in school... you brought back some memories with the "PI" thing. Thanks for breaking it down for me and including your prices as well. It will be a great help to me!
Hehe, to be honest, I had to get some help from my DH, it's been 11 years since I had any kind of math and I couldn't remember the formulas myself!
My "Sheet" cakes are 3" tall, so you might want to adjust this for your 2" tall cakes, but here they are anyway (serving size is 2x2x3, and again the price is for BC):
Size.............Servings....Cups of Batter.....Circumference....Price
Quarter
(9 x 13)......29.............6.......................44"....................$43.50
Half
(12 x 18).....54............15......................60"....................$81.00
Full
(16 x 24).....96............30......................80"....................$144.00
PS-After a good drubbing from indydebi I've changed my sheet cake prices to $1.50 per serving--still less than the $2 per serving of the round cakes (which are 1" taller and usually have more sidework), but a better price for the work that goes into them than I was charging before.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%