We got a two tier cake for 200, with the bottom tier about 12 inches in diameter, and that was fine. We got to keep the top tier too. It probably wouldn't have hurt to get a slightly larger one, but as wedding cake is so rich, it did the job perfectly! Re: 12 inch diameter cake for 200 guests? That is less than 1/5 square inch of cake per guest!" It's not, actually. A 12 inch cake is 113 square inches in area (given that 6 squared = 36 and 36 x 3.14 (pi) = approx 113. Which is about half a sqaure inch. Considering the depth of the cake was about 6 inches, that was more than enough. Re: So my math is bad...1/2 square inch by 6" gives them a total of 1 1/2 cubic inches of cake...pitiful! No, that's 3 cubic inches. Fruit cake is very rich. We, sadly, are not. Our guests were perfectly happy My math is bad, but so is yours. 1/2 x 1/2 x 6 is 1.5 cubic inches. Still pitiful. No, 1/2sq inches is 1inch x 0.5 inch. If it were 1/2 x 1/2 it would be 1/4 square inches. So it's 1 x 0.5 x 6 = 3cubic inches. In the formula posted below, a 14" cake is seen as sufficient - not that much bigger, really. Anyway, our guests were happy, everyone had enough. The answer isn't wrong, in my experience it was perfectly fine. Why did you just change the rating? Because I disagreed with you?

This is the formula recommended by most bakers. For my wedding we simply told our baker how many guests we were expecting and that we wanted the top tier to keep. She was able to tell us exactly what we needed. However, if you're baking your own cake, this formula works. Just figure the shape of the tiers, how many servings you can get from each tier and you'll be fine. You may also want to locate a diagram on cutting the cake so that you can actually get that number of servings. We found a diagram on line and showed it to the girls that were going to be serving ahead of time. Size Round, Heart or Hexagonal Square 4" 12 16 5" 20 25 6" 28 36 7" 38 49 8" 50 64 9" 64 81 10" 80 100 11" 96 121 12" 115 144 13" 135 169 14" 156 196 15" 178 226 16" 200 254

An excellent solution is to have Individual wedding cakes for each guest and a single top tier to keep. No mess and no waste Some good examples can be found at http://www.cakesbyann.co.uk/individual.htm

To find the voulme of a round cake, use the formula pi times radius squared times height For a 12 inch diameter cake 6 inches tall the formula is about 3.14 times 36 times 6 or 628 cubic inches of cake For 200 guests, the portion for each guest is 3.39 cubic inches of cake. If you were able to cut the cake into perfect portions, each guest would recieve a cube about 1.5 inches per side. For a 14 inch diameter cake 6 inches tall the formula is about 3.14 times 49 times 6 or 923 cubic inches of cake For 200 guests, the portion for each guest is 4.61 cubic inches of cake. If you were able to cut the cake into perfect portions, each guest would receive a cube abot 1.67 inches per side. Any way you cut it, the 14 inch diameter cake is more than a third larger than the 12 inch cake. Lynn Presley

Trailblaze. One main one for the bride and groom. Plus 250 wedding cupcakes.