I have a client that wants this as a cake to serve 50:

http://www.joelfletcher.com/roadside-oddities_files/giant-woman-statue-front.jpg

Just like this, laying half on her side and half on her back. (As a sidenote she is to be done in all black like a silhouette with very elaborate jewelry for a showcase the client is having as the end result for this cake.)

I really don't do carved cakes and math is not my forte, but (as in many other post I have about 3d carved cakes) people have been asking me for these things. Seriously I suck at math, I have been stressing about this all day, and I really need help as I have to get this back to the client. Pricing the cake is not the issue. I just need to know:

1. What size cake will I need to start with to get me at least 50 servings.
2. About how many will it realistically feed.
3. The size of the serving amounts. I'm guessing industry wedding servings as well as some 2x2 party sizes.
4. The size of the cake board it needs to go on as to fit in my fridge.

All I know is that the cake can not be so big I can't get her in my fridge which is 18" deep and 25 1/2" wide. I want the platform to have at least 2" all around her so it can be picked up. I'm guessing she can be 18" long from head to toe, so about 22" with the platform. I have no idea how tall she should be, as long as she can get some sort of a decent servings cut from her. I don't want her to be atomically disproportional either.

Please if you do carved cakes please help me! How would you do this cake?

The only reason I told the client I would look this over is cause I want the order . Lately I have been receiving way too many request for these types of cakes. People are willing to pay for them here. From the artist perspective I know how to carve for the sake of carving, nothing more than that. With being able to carve and someone willing to pay for it I need to make it work so my business can make some money. Math is the only thing working against me here.

Please help me! TIA

By all means, I am not a pro at carving cakes and have very limited experience. Oscar The Grouch, A Mahi-Mahi-, a couple of shirt cakes, the Bumble from Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer...

But I"m gonna throw some brain-storming ideas at you.
When I looked at the woman lying in the grass I thought, "Modeling Chocolate". Modeling Chocolate on a sheet cake.
She would be very easy to do with modeling chocolate. But that is just one avenue of thought.

The other thing I know about the 3-D cakes is what I have read here on CC. You charge for the cake you are going to cut away too.
If you start stacking sheet cakes to carve her form, you're going to have a lot of waste.
One way to transfer the photo into reality is to use the grid system. It's something we all learned in school in art class. Take the photo, mark it in one inch or half inch grids. Us that as your 'scale' for your model.
Cake for 50 people does not sound like a very big cake to be creating this lady with.

Like I said, I'm just trying to throw some ideas in your direction.
Hope this helps!

Do you plan on any part of her being not of cake? If so, what parts? The only thing I see that looks like it wouldn't be of cake would be her left forearm. Her head looks to be resting on a pile of gravel. I know you said it's all to be in black, do you plan on including that pile as part of the design too? If not, I would include her head in being not of cake along with the left forearm.

Since a 12x18 sheet serves 54 party servings, I would probably start with that along with a 1/4 sheet so I wouldn't be doing a lot of piece work with the trimmings...some, just not so much that the servings get ugly. I would figure on serving shoulders to toe (unless, of course, you're incorporating the pile in the piece). Servings size amounts...well...I couldn't say exactly 'cause I see two areas, not including her head, that would get more than two layers tall...to maintain servings as well as proportion.

Realistic servings, would be 50-60. This is just what I am able to figure without actually doing a draw-up of it.

Thank you tokazodo. Yes I do charge for the whole cake I start with regardless of how much goes in the trash. I'm thinking now that the cake may have to serve a bit more than the 50.