How much cake for 40 people

Sheet cakes are readily available at most grocery stores and warehouse outlets. Here are some of the most common options for sheet cake. Keep in mind that serving sizes vary a bit depending on how big you cut the slices. If you plan on serving any other desserts besides the cake, make sure to decrease the size you need accordingly. If you will be having cookies and ice cream in addition to the birthday cake, lower your cake size to reflect that most people will not come for seconds, or will prefer smaller pieces.

Consider investing in a few disposable take home boxes to put in leftover cake and desserts. This will not only keep the cake from winding up on your waistline, but ensure that everyone had a chance to sample of the delicious desserts. When you choose a sponge cake, you can use the size of the cake to determine the average number of pieces to expect from a single layer.

The chart offers an approximate portion based on slices that are cut 2 inches long by 1 inch wide. Most ceremonial wedding cakes are made with two or more layers of cake, with icing between each layer.

Slices are typically 4 inches high and 2 inches long by 1 inch wide. When estimating the size of a wedding cake, assume the serving size will be at least that big and then figure out how many are needed for the guest count.

Always add extra servings because you may end up inviting more guests than you initially planned for or people may want second helpings. Additionally, consider whether the portions are meant to be a dessert or the cake-cutting is more ceremonial in nature: Dessert portions should be bigger than the traditional 2-inch by 1-inch piece of cake.

Cutting different tiers of a cake to get the correct number of portions can be confusing, especially with round or heart-shaped creations. Before the reception or event, create a plan for how the cake should be cut to avoid running out or having too much cake leftover.

Exclude the top tier from your calculations because you may choose to remove it and keep it for the couple's first anniversary. Professional cake decorators use a specific cutting method to ensure neat, uniform pieces, depending on the cake's shape:.

Using those cutting methods, you can estimate how many pieces of cake your tiered creation will produce. Refer to this chart for the number of servings you can expect to get from a sheet cake for various portion sizes. Planning a party? Check out our pizza calculator or turkey size calculator to plan the portions for your crowd. You are here. Strangely enough, the size of a cake serving for a wedding is smaller than a party cake serving!

Cakes cut for parties are normally 1. This can impact the number of servings included below. The standard size of a cake slice is definitely the golden standard.

However, my vanilla cake recipe makes a 7 inch layer cake that is way taller than 4 inches. In general, tall layer cakes have increased in popularity and are quite common nowadays. This can make cutting and serving a cake a lot more challenging. The height of a cake can be influenced by a lot of factors. If I make a cake taller than 7 inches, I cut it into thin slices about 1 inch wide.

Then I cut each slice in half, horizontally. This means that out of each slice I make, I create 2 servings. For tall cakes, I double the servings shown below, since those are based on a shorter cake 4 inches. When trying to determine the right size of cake to make based on the numbers below, please refer to the far right column. Once you know the number of servings you need, you can start to think about what size of cake you should make. A single-tiered layer cake has set number of servings.