I have been asked to make a topsy turvy wedding cake to serve between 100-150 people. I realize that those cakes have three layers to each tier. I am trying to figure out what size tiers to make in order to get the correct amount of servings. I have been racking my brain trying to figure it out without having to by size 5, 7, and 11 inch round cake pans. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I do a 6"/9"/12" to feed 120....but mine have 4 layers/4 layers/5 layers in that combo, not just three. Is it the main dessert? Do ALL the guests really have to be fed from this cake?

I believe it is the main dessert. I could do a sheet cake to go along with it. I am assuming that you do not do the tapered tiers. The bride was picturing the tapered tiers, which is making it more complicated to figure.

To make tapered tiers make it easier on yourself and bake one each of 6,7,8 OR 8,9,10 etc for each tier. You don't have to cut and you get a nice taper.

Think about it like this.. you have an 8" cake.. two 2" layers of cake (torted or not) and that will feed 20. YOu add another 2" layer and it makes 30 servings.. then you carve the sides and top and take away those extra 10 servings. So long as your taper isn't too dramatic.. you will have about the same amount of servings that you would have for a normal cake the same sizes.

I also don't like making them with the graduated layers. You end up with a messy looking slice and lots extra frosting to fill in the spaces. I start with 3 layers all the same size and carve them down. It makes a nice clean edge to frost and it looks much nicer when you slice it and I think it makes them sturdier. Charge well for it too.. to compensate for the wasted cake and the extra work. I start TT's at $7/serving.

How many tiers? If it has to be 3 tiers I might just do a 6-9-12 for 100 servings and have an extra tier out back. `

Jkalman, thank you for clearifying how you do it, it really helps alot; I havn't done one yet, cause I'm gathering as much info as I can to make one here real soon. Thanks again.

Thank you for your help. I was thinking that I could do a straight tier instead of tapered, I wasn't thinking I could taper it myself..duh! The cake I drew up was for 4 tiers. I was working with about a 6 inch high tier. Would a 4 inch be too short for the TT cake? It looks like to me that most of the tier would be hidden.