Hello,

My soon to be SIL asked me to make this cake, but I haven't made one quite this large in a while. I wanted to ask how anyone would recommend I stack this cake? Should it be stacked or tiered with very short tiers? Not sure exactly how to build this best to make it look like the pic ... 

Any other tips would also be appreciated, regarding flower arranging (on top especially).

Lastly,I was planning to make cakes in these sizes: 6-8-10-12-14-16 although I really wanted to avoid making a gigantic 16" cake. so I am also considering 4-6-8-10-12-14 (not worried about serving # b/c there will be dessert table too so plenty of dessert) ... would a 4" cake look wierd? if not, where can I get a 4" pan? Last option would be 6-8-9-10-12-14 but I'm not sure if this will look odd going 8-9-10 in the middle. 

Please help! Running out of time!

Thanks a bunch!!!

Wow!  That's a big cake.   Do you need over 300 servings?  I am not a fan of the 2" gap in between tiers...it just makes it look very towery.   But it is not uncommon.   I would need to know how many servings were needed before I would decide on pan sizes.    Also, can you attach a picture of the cake?

Hello,

I pasted the photo but it must not be showing up, so here is the link:

https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/?ui=2&ik=4c466e60d9&view=att&th=13feac1fcb94f8f2&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_hj7ztpp60&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P94_OopSmBPoZ3MXKI0qgqf&sadet=1376382783711&sads=gMYaoIFBowS03W4v_Bxtg_deN_4

Thanks so much! Much appreciated! Really need help!

btw number of servings is in the 400 to 600 range; there is some flexibility because there will be a dessert table so plenty of sweets.

I am not concerned with not having enough cake based on these pan size option, more concerned on how the cake will look and that it will look right proportionally ..

Thanks again!

Can you try pasting it one more time? I still can't see it and the link requires a log into Gmail....

Hello,

I uploaded the picture to my photos on cakecentral here:

http://cakecentral.com/g/i/3077773/a/3389447/need-help-making-this-cake-trying-to-figure-out-1-pan-sizes-to-use-trying-to-avoid-16-pan-looking-to-use-6-8-9-10-12-14-or-4-6-8-10-12-14-or-if-i-must-use-16-then-6-8-10-12-14-16-not-worried-about-of-servings-b-c-there-will-be-plenty-of/

Your help is greatly appreciated!

Since you say the number of servings doesn't matter, could you convince your soon-to-be SIL to have just five tiers? That's still an impressive cake and you could do the 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, which would look nice, and avoid the 16.

I honestly thought of doing that ... many times lol ... i'm thinking of biting the bullet and including the 16" cake ...

when is the wedding? Can you fit a 16" in the oven? I have never measured my oven so I wouldn't know....

I have this cake stand. It goes up 6 tiers and you can buy them at Michaels. We used it for a fruit tower at a wedding. But it is perfect for the cake you want to make. BTW this is not my picture i did not make this. I am using this picture  only for the stand.

I seriously doubt that will be balanced enough or strong enough for such a tall cake. I would use the SPS system and rent or buy a cake stand sturdy enough....I don't think any of the pro's here use a WIlton cake stand for something that big...

AYou can get a 4" pan at any cake store, online, probably even Walmart. 400-600 is a huge gap! I realize having a large dessert table gives you some leeway but not 200 people. I'm sure they have an RSVP date so that will give you a more accurate idea of servings, not everyone will come that rsvp's and vice versa.

You should factor how many recipes each pan/tier will take, it's your brothers cake so I am guessing you're giving a discount or just making this because you have experience. Regardless, I'd print out a serving chart, figure ingredients for each tier, then go back to your soon to be SIL. The ingredients alone are going to be expensive, plus your support system (Please use sps like BatterUp suggested), figure out what size pans will fit in your oven, and figure out what how you will transport it.

AMaybe you should just use dummies for the whole thing and then you can just stack them up on top of each other, and not worry about anything. Make it easy on yourself. Make kitchen cakes to serve the guests.