Okay, I'm waiting for this lady to call and rip me a new one....

So let me first ask you all, how many servings is in a party cake that is a 12" square, (2-layer, so about 3" tall)??

Thank you, thank you!

Maximum 48 1-1/2" x 2"x3" servings.

Good luck!

I think 48. Didn't you look that up before you made the cake?

70-ish using Wilton wedding servings. That's what I use for any cake.

Serves 48.

Wedding size serves 72.

I'm curious to know what happened. Will you fill us in on the details?

I'm curious to know what happened. Will you fill us in on the details?

The max servings I'd go is Earlene's chart which is 60...or the Wilton party which is 48 as mentioned above. More and more I go by Earlene's unless I'm sculpting then I use the Wilton party chart to make sure I have enough since its the most generous.

That's a 4" high cake though...each layer being nearly 2" and then filling.

12" square, 2-layer, when cut in 1x2x4, serves 72.

They are welcome to cut it bigger if they want, but if that means they needs more cake, then they have to pay for a bigger cake.

They pay for the number of servings the cake is DESIGNED to serve, not the number of servings they plan to cut from it.

insert KFC story here.

OK Debi, the KFC story? Maybe I'm too new around here to have heard it but it sure sounds like it's worth hearing! Feel like retelling or posting a link?

The KFC story is that a bucket of eight pieces of chicken won't feed ten people. You just have to buy more chicken.

Oooh. Makes sense! Thanks Rose_N_Crantz. PS: Love your name!

Hehehehehehehe ... The KFC Story... I will remember that one .....

I actually didn't take the order, and was out on a delivery when the family came to pick it up. I was warned by my employee who helped them that they were all fretting about the cake looking really small. Most of it was rapid Spanish, but I guess she got the jist of it! The family then called someone at home and relayed that the cake looked way too small to serve 50. They handed the phone to my employee, and said, "she wants to talk to you". So she took the phone, and the lady proceeded to ask if the cake was as small as her family said, and my girl said, "it's a 12" square, just as you ordered." The lady was a bit rough and rude, and ended by saying, "this cake better serve 50 people!"
Now, the employee who took the order wasn't here today, so I don't know what she told the person who ordered regarding servings. We keep a chart up in the back, and for party cakes, I just tell the girls they can estimate a good 5 servings or so more than the round. My chart that I use says a 12" round serves 25-40. I judge the accuracy of party cake serving sizes on my customers' feedback, and this serving range works well for us. I would have told the woman it served 35-45 or so, but like I said, I don't know what the conversation was upon ordering.

Some families serve huge pieces; we have a family that orders often, and they order an absurd amount for their party sizes; I don't know where they put it all to be honest. But they order lots and always tell me they love to have lots of extra. This particular family may be used to ordering super-cheap cake from Walmart or something, and you tend to have leftovers with miles of mediocre sheet cake.

So, I am pretty sure the head honcho mom will call me shortly and scream.

And btw, what is with people who call and say they've had your cake lots of times and it was always perfect and fabulous, but today's cake design is not up to par and they are never coming back?! I just received that call. I try to explain that humans work here and we can't always hit the nail on the head, and what can I do to fix it? "Nothing unless you want to give me a refund!" Me:"....buuut you're never coming back??" Them: "No, NEVER!" Me: "Well, I'm so sorry, and I hope you find a perfect cake shop for your next order. Good-bye."

Ahhh, Saturday.

Heh. It actually reminds me that I was SO WORRIED about the only cake-for-pay I've done, for my godniece's first birthday--I asked them to pay ingredients, then went way over what I asked for--because there were 50 people and it was "just" a 9x13. Two layers with SMBC. We wound up having less than half the cake cut and that was with people coming back for more than one slice!

It's deceptive, just looking at a cake, how much you can get out of it...

While you don't know what your employee told the family, you also don't know what the family heard. People tend to hear what they want, and convientely forgot what they don't want to hear. Judging by your past experiences, your employees do a great job at explaining serving sizes. But no matter how clearly you explain something to some people, they are going to hear it the way they want, and subsequently complain they didn't get what they ordered! And as we all know, the size we quote for cake servings is not a American serving size. Here in the U Of A everything is expected to be supersized - this is why we have so many obesse children and adults (Me being one of them!) Any who, follow your normal procedures for complaints of this nature and hope that if this is not clearly a missunderstanding, that these people go elsewhere to get their supersized servings of party cake!

Rose, you said it in a nutshell!

Here's some links with reference to the KFC story. (As you can see, I reference it a LOT! )

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-597044-kfc.html (best one)

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-620115-kfc.html

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-619064-kfc.html

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-606836-kfc.html

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-598960-kfc.html

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-603186-kfc.html

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=598660&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=kfc&&start=15

it might be a good idea if you make up a stryrofoam cake slice of varying thicknesses to match your cakes so customers can see what a serving size really is. Its not your fault if they serve chunks. Keep all your servings based on a standard and the dummy slice will show them how you come up with your numbers, its up to them if they want to cut smaller or bigger slices. As for designs not being up to par, unless they specifically come in with a drawing for you to copy, your decorators are not mind readers. I know i hate it when the order reads 'make it festive' yea, right, what is that supposed to mean!!!

I NEVER tell customers "This cake serves 50 people". I always say something like this, instead, "This cake contains 40-50 servings"

First, I hope it all works out for you

IMO it's a pretty big range to tell someone a cake feeds between 25 and 40 people. You might want to narrow it down a little, so that your ranges are within 5 to 10 servings (this cake feeds 15-20, that cake feeds 20-30, etc.)

That way your clients will order a more accurate size cake and you won't have to worry about complaints that the cake was too small.

Do you have a serving chart that you go with (Wilton, Earlene's)? I would pick one and also have a diagram to give your customers to show them how to cut the cake so they get the right amount of servings .

First, I hope it all works out for you

IMO it's a pretty big range to tell someone a cake feeds between 25 and 40 people. You might want to narrow it down a little, so that your ranges are within 5 to 10 servings (this cake feeds 15-20, that cake feeds 20-30, etc.)

That way your clients will order a more accurate size cake and you won't have to worry about complaints that the cake was too small.

Do you have a serving chart that you go with (Wilton, Earlene's)? I would pick one and also have a diagram to give your customers to show them how to cut the cake so they get the right amount of servings .