Hi..

I need to make a double barrel birthday cake that feeds 50 people. Please tell me what size pans to use and how many layers. I am going crazy trying to figure it out!

Ps. first time with double barrel cakes, any tips and suggestions are welcome :)

Thanks,

Anna

Depending on how large you cut it, a 10 or 12 inch round should do it.  You are actually stacking two cakes up, so one that will serve around 25 will do when doubled....it might be a stretch for the 10 and there will be extra with the 12, but I'd rather err on the extra side.

 Basically you are icing two cakes together....build the first, add dowels just like you would for any stacked tiered cake, then place the second cake on a board cut to fit on top.  Ice as usual (buttercream or fondant.  If you find trying to cover a cake that large with fondant, you could cover the top, then roll a panel cut to height and wrap the sides, but it's not too hard to cover the traditional way if you handle fondant often.

 When you serve, you serve the top cake, remove the board and dowels and serve the bottom cake.

Double barrel? Do you mean extended height? Double barreled is when the two items are side-by- side (think double-barreled shotgun).

Hi, I find the following guide to be quite reliable. http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-serving-guide.cfm I made a 9" cake topped by a 7". Each tier was around 4" tall (filled and covered). It fed over 40 people and that was just the bottom; the mother took the top cake home to enjoy!!! I noticed the waiter was serving finger wide slices to people so he was probably using the wedding cutting method. Hope this helps and if you can, please explain what double-barrel means. I have only heard this expression for surnames :)

A double barrel is 2 cakes of the same size stacked one on top of the other.  The typical height for a single cake is 4".  If your cakes are 4" tall- two 8" cakes would give you 48 servings (an 8" round and 8"  tall cake) if cut correctly.  That's a pretty big cake.

You need to get some more info from your client.  Will they really have 50 people eating cake?  Sometimes, they are inviting 50 people but some don't come and some don't eat cake (especially if they are serving a meal as well).  If the invite is for 50, two 8x4 stacked cakes is plenty.