I have been asked to make a unique wedding cake for next weekend. The bride would like two life preservers side-by-side with their names on each one. The wedding is occuring at their boat dock, so it is just going along with their theme.

They are expecting 75 guests, so my question is what size cake pans should I use to accommodate their request. I am confused about the number of servings in the cakes because I will be cutting out the centers in order to make the life preserver shape.

Any thoughts?

I would say, to count the servings just subtract what you take out. For instance, using Earlene's servings, a 12 in cake is 45 servings. If you cut a 6 in circle out of the middle, subtract 8 (the servings for a 6 in round) and you get 37 servings. Two of those would give you about 75.

when I made the Ohio State Box O, I looked at the cake cutting guide in the gallery to figure out the number of servings.
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo-1300478.html

I think you should be alright with 2-12" cakes. I looked at the total number of servings of the 2 cakes and subtracted out the amount that you could cut out of the centers...

If 2 12 inch round cakes would work that would be great, but I wasn't confident that it would feed enough people. That would be awesome because I wouldn't have to go out and buy a new pan!