Hello everyone!

I have been asked to do a cake to feed 200 people. It is to be a sheet cake, and I have the 11x15 pans already. I am thinking it would take 4 cakes of this size to feed that many. I am planning on doing 1 layer. Do any of you have any suggestions on the best way to go about it? Should I go buy bigger pans? Thanks in advance for your help!

If you use 4 cakes put together to serve this many people, just make sure you have it on a piece of plywood or some type of board that will support the weight of your cake. This one will be very heavy!

WHAT I KNOW IS THAT AN 11 X 15 CAKE PAN FEEDS 30 - 40 PEOPLE. SO ACCORDING TO ME, YOU WOULD NEED MORE THAN 4 CAKES. MAYBE SOMEBODY ELSE ON HERE CAN TELL YOU AND ME THAT NUMBER IS WRONG. IF YOU GO WITH A 12 X 18 PAN (SERVES 40-50 PEOPLE) THEN YOU COULD GO WITH 4 CAKES. HOPE THIS HELPS. GOOD LUCK!

I have the same issue. I am going to make 4 - 12X18 cakes and just make them seperate cakes. I think that would be WAY too big to hunk all of them together as one.

I tried to talk them into something tiered, but they don't want that, they want sheet cake.

Here's my suggession.... I think that you should double layer them fill and decorate. It looks more elegant for a wedding and you have less cakes to decorate. I think that someone postes a link to earlene moore's website and it gave realistic serving charts. Let me see if I an find it.

Here you go http://www.earlenescakes.com/ckserchart.htm

First of all, what kind of event is this for? Depending on the kind of pieces you're thinking of serving, you may want bigger pans... also, if it's for 200 people, you'll want to plan for at least 250 (some of them will probably go back for seconds).

This is for a church reception to welcome our new youth pastor, so it doesn't have to be real formal. I like the idea of making separate cakes. I think trying to do one big one is just asking for trouble. Ha!

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far!

I know silly question...but is a 11x15 size pan considered a 1/2 sheet ?
thanks!

lori83179, You'll get diffrent opinions on this, but for me 11x13 is a third of a sheet and 12x18 is half. That's what I go by and I know other pople here do too.

An 11x15 is really a 1/3 sheet pan and feeds 35-40. A 12x18 is a 1/2 sheet pan and serves 54. A full sheet is an 18x24 which is two 12x18s butted up next to each other on a big, sturdy board. This will serve 100. If you need to serve 200, you need to make two full sheet cakes. These are big cakes. I've been trying to talk my customers into stacking the two 12x18s on top of each other, with icing or filing in the middle. They are much easier to manage and transport (and carry) that way, but many still want the BIG sheet, even though it's the same amount of cake either way.

In any event, four 11x15 cakes are not enough to serve 200 people.

Thanks for your help everyone. I am going to get the 12x18 pans today.