So Much Discrepancy Between Cake Servings

Decorating By cakefort Updated 17 Mar 2010 , 9:04pm by leily

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cakefort Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 5:09pm
post #1 of 16

It seems that if I search serving charts for cakes, I see a wide variety of number of servings per cake round. Wilton, Earlene's, everyone else--they all say something different. How can one 12" cake feed both 70 and 40 ppl?? I understand that its a matter of how large you cut the peices, but how do I know how any one person other than myself will cut it? What if they don't have enough?

15 replies
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foxymomma521 Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 5:15pm
post #2 of 16

You have to tell them how to cut it. Indydebi has a great How-to on her site that I print and give to the person getting the cake. http://www.cateritsimple.com/id10.html

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KHalstead Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 5:16pm
post #3 of 16

exactly, I show my cusstomers a piece of styrofoam cut to the serving size I charge them by.........if they want to cut bigger, then they order more cake! It gives them a good visual though.

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Kitagrl Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 5:27pm
post #4 of 16

I use Earlene's because I prefer to err on the side of caution...if I spent $300 for a birthday cake I would rather have a nice chunk leftover (or be able to offer a few seconds) than to be trying to squeeze out pieces for the last ten guests. I realize that's not really "industry standard" but its how I run my business....

I do make sure my per-serving price adds up to what I feel is a fair price (for me) for the entire cake. One person might charge $3/serving via the Wilton Wedding chart while I might charge $5/serving using the Earlene chart...less servings but still more money per serving so it evens out okay, plus the customer gets at LEAST as much cake as they pictured in their head, if not more. If they feel they got too much, then next time they order they can just say "I had too much cake last time, I want to order less" but I've never had that happen haha.

I only have ever had one complaint of not enough cake and it was a dad who bought a cake for his daughter and probably served the pieces wedge shaped and too large. haha. But next time he ordered extra servings and all was fine.

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xiswtsawluiix Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 5:59pm
post #5 of 16

save!

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cakefort Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 7:10pm
post #6 of 16

With Earlene's there is a HUGE difference in party slices and bride slices. Huge! Also, what does the last column in Earlene's chart mean? I'm not sure what that refers to or if it is relevant.

I do use Indydebi's method of cutting, but that negates both charts and I thought she once said she uses Wilton's for pricing. Do her slices equal Wilton's even though they are cut very differently?

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Kitagrl Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 7:13pm
post #7 of 16

Earlene only has one serving size she uses...the other columns have to do with the full tiers or something...but she says column "C" is the sizes per tier she uses no matter what.

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cakefort Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 7:21pm
post #8 of 16

Oh. I thought column C was for party sizes and F was for wedding cakes.

Okay, so how does she come up with 15 servings for an 8inch round and Wilton comes up with 20? My math isn't stellar, but I divided it into 1x2x4 slices and came up with about 27-29 slices, cutting straight lines.

Help!

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Kitagrl Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 7:24pm
post #9 of 16
Quote:
Originally Posted by cakefort

Oh. I thought column C was for party sizes and F was for wedding cakes.

Okay, so how does she come up with 15 servings for an 8inch round and Wilton comes up with 20? My math isn't stellar, but I divided it into 1x2x4 slices and came up with about 27-29 slices, cutting straight lines.

Help!




Sounds like she just made her chart from practical experience. I dunno.

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foxymomma521 Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 8:18pm
post #10 of 16

I think she says somewhere on the site that she got out her pans and started measuring them one day. Indydebi uses Wilton's wedding chart. She says she never runs out of cake. I used to work for a banquet hall before I started making cakes, and we cut the wedding cakes Indydebi's way too. There was ALWAYS leftover cake!

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cakefort Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 8:25pm
post #11 of 16

This is where I'm confused. Indydebi cuts straight and Wilton cuts in circles.

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leily Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 8:44pm
post #12 of 16
Quote:
Originally Posted by cakefort

This is where I'm confused. Indydebi cuts straight and Wilton cuts in circles.




But they're still cutting the same size pieces. They are still 1"x2"x4". Cutting them straight is just easier than cutting in circles. (have you ever tried to cut an even circle on a round cakes?-not easy)

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indydebi Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 8:48pm
post #13 of 16

wilton's chart is based on 1x2x4" pieces. My cutting method is based on 1x2x4" pieces. I get about 10% more pieces, meaning an 8" round which wilton says will serve 24, I will get 25 or 26 out of. The only thing I can figure is when the circle method is used, the pieces have a very very slight flair to them whereas my method is a perfect rectangle with no flair. I've never done the math, but it seems logical that if you could trim that teeny tiny flair off of each piece and stack them up, it would be enough cake to create one or two more pieces.

Just a theory ..... no idea.

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cakefort Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 8:49pm
post #14 of 16
Quote:
Originally Posted by leily

Quote:
Originally Posted by cakefort

This is where I'm confused. Indydebi cuts straight and Wilton cuts in circles.



But they're still cutting the same size pieces. They are still 1"x2"x4". Cutting them straight is just easier than cutting in circles. (have you ever tried to cut an even circle on a round cakes?-not easy)




Okay, that was what I was wondering. And no, I have never cut and circles and don't want to! icon_biggrin.gif

thanks so much

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cakefort Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 8:51pm
post #15 of 16
Quote:
Originally Posted by indydebi

wilton's chart is based on 1x2x4" pieces. My cutting method is based on 1x2x4" pieces. I get about 10% more pieces, meaning an 8" round which wilton says will serve 24, I will get 25 or 26 out of. The only thing I can figure is when the circle method is used, the pieces have a very very slight flair to them whereas my method is a perfect rectangle with no flair. I've never done the math, but it seems logical that if you could trim that teeny tiny flair off of each piece and stack them up, it would be enough cake to create one or two more pieces.

Just a theory ..... no idea.




Excellent. I get about 28 pieces, so at least that comes closer! Thank you!

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leily Posted 17 Mar 2010 , 9:04pm
post #16 of 16

I forgot to say.. I have never actually compared my chart to Wiltons. But I figure all of my servings by cubic inches.

1"x2"x4" piece = 8 cubic inches of cake

So for a 6" round that is 4" high I figure out the total number of cubic inches and then divide by 8. That give me my number of servings. But when telling a customer how much they serve I give them a range of the number I get and about 5-6 below that number.

Hope this helps.

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