How Many Portions? A Size Guide for Wedding and Celebration Cakes

It can be confusing, knowing how large a cake to order. The amount of portions you get from a cake depends on a number of factors, not least the generosity of the person in charge of cutting the cake! Some things to bear in mind:

• You get more portions of cake from a square cake than you do a round cake. 

• Cakes are generally portioned up into 2" x 1" portions and this is what we here at Jo's Cakes use as a guide when suggesting portions. This applies to sponge cake, as opposed to fruit cake where the portion size is usually around 1" x 1" due to the cake being richer. 

• Novelty carved cakes are a while other kettle of fish! It is always difficult to say how many portions you can get from something such as a dog shaped cake as the way the cake has been carved means that not everyone will get an equal portion (if that makes sense!?). 

	Round		Square
	Fruit	Sponge	Fruit	Sponge
Single Tier	Approx no of servings
6"	22	12-15	28	18
8"	40	20-25	54	32
9"	54	27	70	39
10"	68	35-40	90	50
12"	100	65	134	72
Two Tier
6" + 9"	76	38	82	41
8" + 10"	108	54	144	72
9" + 12"	154	77	204	102
Three Tier
6" + 8" + 10"	130	65	170	100
6" + 9" + 12"	176	88	232	145
8" + 10" + 12"	208	104	278	155
Four Tier
6" + 8" + 10" + 12"	230	120	304	170

Hopefully this guide is useful! It's a good way of seeing how many portions you could get from a cake if you mix and match flavours and sizes, for example a 6" round fruit cake, a 8" round sponge cake and a 10" round sponge cake will give you approximately 80 portions of cake. 

Another way of having more portions for a cake is to have a separate "cutting cake" which your venue will keep in the kitchen. This cake is iced on the top only. When your venue serve up the actual wedding cake, they serve the cutting cake at the same time and your guests will have no idea that the cake from the cutting cake didn't come from the main cake. This is a good way to save a little money on your cake, as you can have a smaller main cake which is decorated and the extra portions are made up from the not so decorated cutting cake :)

What you might find however is that it's best not to cater for every single guest, unless you're planning to make sure every guest goes home with some cake. There will inevitably be people who forget to get a slice of cake, don't eat cake, are on a diet, don't like that particular flavour of cake etc, and you could end up with a lot of leftovers! Our cakes are baked fresh and can be frozen, but it's a shame to have a lot left over, not to mention a waste of money. 

If you need any more advice when it comes to choosing portion sizes, speak to your cake decorator. He or she will be able to help you and guide you towards the right size for your cake. 

Thanks for stopping by x