Dimensions Guide

Wedding cake sizes vary depending on several factors. Especially when talking of cake tiers, wedding cake dimensions are affected by the following things pastry designers and bakers should know.

Number of Servings

Wedding receptions are often big. The average crowd is about 50 to 75 people. However, not all guests get to eat the wedding cake. It is often for display purposes only and sometimes served to major sponsors alone. Nonetheless, wedding cake sizes should be proportion to the intended number of servings. The usual wedding cake dimensions are 14 by 14 or 16 by 16 inches. Bigger sizes are possible, but the common remedy for big servings is to go up in height rather than expand in width.

To accommodate big numbers of servings, add tiers or levels with decreasing wedding cake dimensions. For instance, for a base size of 16 by 16 inches, the next level or tier may be 12 by 12 inches, and the next may be 8 by 8 inches. Tiers or levels are placed on separate platforms of thin decorated plywood sheets. They are raised through small wooden pillars veneered with icing-topped styrofoam materials. They add to wedding cake sizes.

Type of Wedding Reception

Grander wedding celebrations need grander symbols. Thus, there may have to be major adjustments in wedding cake dimensions for luxurious and impressive receptions. Again, increasing wedding cake sizes in width and length is not always the answer. And tiers or levels can only be as high as 3 or 4 layers. Anything higher is ridiculously too high.

A remedy here is having satellite cakes. The expansion is through separate cakes, not in levels, but in rows. There is a main cake in the middle and several satellite ones at the sides, or around it. The main cake may be 16 by 16 or 18 by 18 inches, and the satellites 8 by 8 inches. Or, it may be a gradation of heights from both sides of the main cake, from smallest to biggest, and the biggest is the main cake. If the number of servings is smaller, just reduce the wedding cake dimensions. If the option is to keep wedding cake sizes big enough, then cut on the number to be displayed but retain the size.

Sizes and Servings

Wedding cake sizes measuring 6, 8, or 16 inches a side serves 12, 24, and a hundred servings in that order, if the cake is circular. It is more practical to bake round cakes, and these are used in most weddings.