I am making a four teired wedding cake, and she only wants the bottom to be real. She wants it to feed 150. I am planning to make an 18inch round on the bottom, a 14 inch dummy layer on top of that, a 10 inch dummy on top of that, and a 6 inch real layer for her to keep on top. Does that sound like it would look okay? It says that the 18 inch feeds 146.
The grooms cake should feed 75, so I was going to make a 14 inch round, but she said she only wants it single layered, so how big should I make it?
brandy
What about just a sheet cake for the groom's cake? Also, if you don't have someone there that knows how a cake should be cut, you're not going to get 146 servings out of the bottom layer of the wedding cake. Make sure the 18 in will fit in your oven, too. I would try and talk her into doing at least the bottom 2 tiers of cake. I mean she's pretty much paying the same price for the dummies as she is the cake.
I doubt you will get more than 48 servings out of a round 14 inch sheet cake... possibly more but not 75 servings it would be better to also make one of the smaller teirs real cake to make up the difference... remember decorating a dummiy takes as long as a real cake and the dummy costs more to buy than cake so actually it would save her money to have a smaller teir real cake.
Actually when serving a cake I would prefer the dummy to be the bottom teir. and the top teirs real cake.. then the cake looks nice while serving instead of having to be dismantled to get the first slice.
Sounds like you need to sit down with the bride and explain some things to her. I also would do dummy as the bottom, real as the top.
I would explain that the single layer 18" round can be done for the grooms cake, but she's going to be cutting it close on servings for both cakes. I would ask if there's a reason why she only wants a single layer also.
ACK!!! Okay, then, what do I suggest to her?
If I put the dummy on the bottom, what size should it be and what size should the real tiers be? I don't want the top tier to be too big!
If the grooms cake is single layered, it should be 18inches, but what if I can talk her into two layers, then what size(to feed 75).
I am starting to get a headache.
Brandy
If you use at least a 16in round for the grooms cake I think you can get 75 servings, based on Earlene's Cakes' chart. Of course you could do one layer. The pieces should still be cut according to the chart, but would naturally be smaller since they are only one layer.
As for the Bride.....I think you could do a 16 and a 14 in real cake tier, then dummies on top of those. According to Earlene's chart, it would feed 90 for the 16in tier and 65 for the 14 in.
Of course, all this depends on them having someone there who can cut wedding cakes properly. Go to her website, there is tons of stuff there to help you. Good luck, hope it helps.
http://earlenescakes.com/ckserchart.htm
http://earlenescakes.com/cakeservinst.htm
Most people seem to think that Earlene has more realistic serving sizes. So check out her website at www.earlenescakes.com She has a Cake serving size chart on there. That should help.
For example, she shows an 18" round (2 layer) cake serves 118, not 146.
I think first I would find out why she wants the majority of the cake to be a dummy. If she wants the cake to be there the entire reception, then maybe you should suggest having sheetcakes hidden that you would actually serve.
It's all just a trial and error, figuring out sizes and servings, kind of thing.
Here is what I would suggest:
When you call her to discuss this be prepared. This is your specialty, not hers. Explain you will accomodate her requests in the best way you can. These brides get crazy ideas from who knows where and unfortunately it's up to the decorator to set them straight.
For the groom's cake if she wants 75 servings she needs to go with a 14in double layer otherwise she will end up with a ridiculous looking, humungo pancake of a groom's cake lol but true!
For the wedding cake: I would make a 16 and 12in real cakes for the 150 servings 8in dummy and 4in real cake for anniversary.
lol, sorry that you're getting a headache...
you can make the bridal cake ALL dummy..and have sheet cakes in the back..lol
I've done this MANY time! I have a basic dummy that I had done in Fondant and all I had to do was change the flowers or decorations.
When the dummy got ratty looking, all I had to do was remove the fondant...since I would vacum seal the dummy in plastic..
any stubborn fondant I could remove easily by tearing off the plastic....
I'd have to do this about....every 3 to 6 months depending on how "active" the "dummy" was..
Okay, I think this is what I am going to do....
I will make the bottom tier 16inch of real cake, the next tier 12inch of real cake, the next tier a 8 inch dummy cake, and then the top layer a 4 inch real cake layer.(does anyone think the 4 inches is too small, should I change it to a 6 inch?). I think the bride will be fine with two tiers of real cake....
The grooms cake will be double layer 14 inch.
There. No more decisions today.
Brandy
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