Hi! I have been hired to make my first wedding cake and I need some advice.
The cake needs to feed 150 people. My question is what size tiers would you recommend? The photo they gave me to work from is 3 tiers, but 4 is also OK. My concern with 4 tiers is that it'd end up being short and fat. HELP, PLEASE!
Thank you in advance!
Jennifer
Why would they be short and fat? You want to get at least 3" tiers, but preferably 4". If you have 2" high pans, then you bake two layers, and after leveling, if torte each of them, you would have three layers of filling, and you're tier would be about 4" high. And if you bake in a 3" pan and you're not getting the height you want, then bake another layer.
Do they want to keep the top tier?
If you do square tiers then using Wilton's chart 8/10/12 will give you 154.
If you do round tiers then 9/12/14 would give you 157. If they want a top tier, you can drop a 6" round on top for a 4th tier.
I suggest you study this chart: http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-701-s&va=wilton+cake+serving+chart
there are many, many ways to come up with that # of servings.
.........My concern with 4 tiers is that it'd end up being short and fat.......
I think you meant to say if it is *3* tiers that it would be short & fat. Please view the many cake pictures in the gallery .... you will see that it won't be like that.
some from my pix: a 14, 10, 6 stacked cake:
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1362720/lattice-rose-wedding
And others that are similar - they don't look 'short & fat' 
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1358647/stacked-butteercream-rounds
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1333778/fall-leaves-and-mums
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1333236/red-ribbon-on-plain-stacked-rounds
Are you sure you're ready for this? If you don't know anything about servings and tiers and how tall to make it, etc., why on earth are you even trying to do such an important cake? Do you even know how to stack the tiers or what kind of structure is involved in putting it together so it won't collapse?
You've been hired to do your first wedding cake--assuming you're even legal do your customers know that this is your first wedding cake? How elaborate is this cake going to be? What are their expectations? To start asking questions about how to go about it a week out is not good planning. Since you have no pictures posted, it's hard to tell where you stand in your abilities, hence my reservations.
Good luck!
carmijok said:
"Are you sure you're ready for this? If you don't know anything about servings and tiers and how tall to make it, etc., why on earth are you even trying to do such an important cake? Do you even know how to stack the tiers or what kind of structure is involved in putting it together so it won't collapse?
You've been hired to do your first wedding cake--assuming you're even legal do your customers know that this is your first wedding cake? How elaborate is this cake going to be? What are their expectations? To start asking questions about how to go about it a week out is not good planning. Since you have no pictures posted, it's hard to tell where you stand in your abilities, hence my reservations."
I completely agree. And, I just wanted to add that you are not receiving the answer you are looking for because there is no one right answer to your question. While there are basic guidelines as to how many guests each tier will serve, there are practically infinite ways of combining tiers to achieve the required servings. What sizes you use, and how you choose to compose them, is part of the artistic design of the cake. Most tiers are 4" high, but you can also use 1/2 tiers (2"), double barrel tiers (6-8", which are two tiers of the same diameter separated with a cake board & stacked on top of each other), etc. You can also combine shapes for interesting effects. etc., etc., etc.
For reference regarding different tier combinations, I suggest you take a look at the following links:
http://acaketorememberva.blogspot.com/2012/02/cake-serving-chart.html
http://wedologize.blogspot.com/2012_03_01_archive.html
http://www.cakeinaboxco.com/wedding-cake-serving-chart.html
http://pinterest.com/appletonbeth/cake-serving-chart/
Also, please please please, I hope you know (or learn) how to properly structure a tiered cake. Structure is the most important thing you will learn in the process.
Good luck.
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