Portion Sizes...

It can be a minefield, knowing how large a cake to order. The amount of portions you get from a cake depends on a number of factors, the main one being the generosity of the person cutting up the cake! Some things worth bearing in mind:

• You get more portions of cake from a square cake than a round one
• Cakes are generally portioned up into 1" x 2" size for sponge cakes and 1" x 1" size for fruit cake. Fruit cake tends to be a lot richer, so you need less cake per portion. 
• Novelty carved cakes are a whole other matter - these are only ever very general numbers of servings, as the way the cake has been carved means that not everyone will have an equal portion (if that makes sense!?)

	Round - Fruit	Round - Sponge	Square - Fruit	Square - 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 is useful! It's a good way of seeing how many portions you can get if you mix and match as well, e.g. a 6" round fruit cake, 8" round sponge cake and 10" round sponge will give you going on for 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 layer only. When your venue serve up the actual wedding cake, they serve this up at the same time and your guests 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 bit of 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. There will inevitably be people on diets, people who don't like that particular flavour of cake or people who simply forget to get a piece of cake, and you'll be left with it all, or have to throw it away which is a real shame, not to mention 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 cake for you!

Jo x