It's hard to imagine a wedding without a delicious and mesmerizing wedding cake. When this main dessert is rolled out into the banquet hall, the touching part of the feast begins. This is the last table on which the warmest wishes are heard. But to receive these warm emotions, you need to prepare everything correctly.
When organizing a wedding, the newlyweds do not understand how to calculate the weight of the cake for the number of people. To make the banquet a success, it is better to take a small supply. Let some of the sweet treat remain untouched, but you will treat all the guests without having to cut the baked goods into small pieces.
We are calculating the sweet table - how not to make a mistake?
There is a generally accepted minimum - 150 grams of sweet treats per guest. This is an average value, because someone will eat more, while another person will not touch the main dish of the confectionery table at all. When calculating a wedding cake for the number of guests, you should also take into account the characteristics of the audience. Not every banquet requires an impressive multi-tiered masterpiece of confectionery art.
When calculating, consider the following features:
- Invited guests. Place an order at the confectionery only after the list of invited people has been finalized.
- Who won't eat sweets? At some wedding feasts, there are up to half of the people who do not eat sweets. Serving them cake is not only unnecessary, it's unethical.
- Special competitions. The hosts and wedding organizers can offer you various competitions in the banquet hall, in which the first piece of cake will participate. This should be taken into account when ordering.
- Pack treats to take with you. Recently, it has become a good idea to prepare beautiful boxes for wedding cakes that guests can take home with them.
- Do you want the cake to stay? You might want to decorate your first couple's breakfast the morning after your wedding with a beautiful and delicious piece of sweet treat.
It is not enough to know how to calculate the weight of a wedding cake. A number of other factors need to be taken into account. For example, a cake for 30 people is ordered for 4.5-5 kg. But if you plan to use it in competitions, give it away with you and leave it for your morning breakfast, then it’s worth adding another 1 kg to the calculations received. And a banquet can be unpredictable: pleasant and unexpected guests, a table for musicians and presenters, spontaneous competitions - all this will require additional sweets.
Dependence of cake size and weight
Often people, when choosing a cake for their celebration, ask for it to be 3-tiered, but at the same time indicate the desired weight of 2-3 kg. Unfortunately, the size of the cake directly depends on the weight of the treat. It is impossible to make a cake weighing 1 kg, but at the same time decorate it in 2 tiers and decorate it with 2 kg of fruit.
- When calculating the weight of the cake, take into account your wishes for its design and filling, as these factors directly affect the weight of the finished product.
- If your cake is soaked in an airy, not very heavy filling like a soufflé, its weight will increase slightly. If you choose heavy cream as a filling and want to decorate the cake with fresh berries or mastic, then the weight of the finished product will increase by 1-3 kg.
Direct dependence of weight on the size of the cake
Now a few words about how many tiers can be made from a certain weight of the product:
- A delicacy weighing 1-4 kg can be arranged in only 1 tier. The weight of the cake does not allow making 2 tiers.
- If the cake weighs at least 5 kg, then you can easily arrange it in 2 tiers.
- A 3-tier cake can be made from a delicacy weighing 9-10 kg.
- Well, a 4-tier cake can only be made from delicacies whose weight will exceed 12-13 kg.
- It is also worth mentioning the false tier, which is necessary if a person wants 2 tiers, but the weight of the ordered product allows the cake to be made in only 1 tier. This tier is a dummy that is beautifully decorated under the edible tiers of the cake and is used to increase the height of the delicacy.
As you can see, the number of tiers directly depends on the weight of the cake, and it in turn depends on the number of invited guests.
Which confectionery masterpiece should you choose?
Choosing the right treats for the sweet table is an art. You can ask for help from a banquet organizer who has experience in wedding feasts. Confectioners who prepare such sweets every week can also help. Pay attention to fashion trends that will give you bright ideas for your wedding.
Before you finally determine the amount of sweets for your wedding banquet, decide whether the treat will be with or without mastic. Cream layers can be made of heavy sweet cream or light curd filling. The cost of the purchase also depends on this. Don’t make a mistake with your choice – this confectionery product will be remembered for a long time.
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Deciding on the diameter of the cake
Novice pastry chefs often make mistakes with the size of the cake. It seems that I chose the right shape and calculated the weight of the ingredients, but the cake turned out to be not 2 kg, as ordered, but 2.5, or even 3 kg.
Why did this happen? I'll tell you a little secret.
Important! If the filling is heavy, the diameter should be reduced, most often by 2 cm.
Example: a cake weighing 1 kg requires a mold with a diameter of 14 cm. To ensure that the dish with an impressive filling does not exceed the planned weight, take a mold of 12 cm.
In most cases, you can refer to the following table.
But not everything is as simple as we would like. Sometimes you have to recalculate the recipe ingredients for a different diameter.
How to calculate the ingredients for the desired cake diameter
For example, in the usual recipe, the ingredients are given based on a 20 cm mold. But we need a cake with a diameter of 26 cm. What to do?
There is a formula for these calculations. Thanks to it, you can find the coefficient (K), which is then used to recalculate each product.
Formula for calculating the required cake diameter
Here: X is the diameter that is needed; Y is the diameter that is in the recipe.
First, we multiply in brackets, then divide one value by another. In our example it looks like this:
We will use this coefficient to calculate the required amount of ingredients.
If we bake a cake with a larger diameter than indicated in the recipe, we multiply each product by this coefficient.
If we are preparing a cake with a smaller diameter, we need to divide by this coefficient.
Cake design
One of the main tasks of a wedding cake is to surprise and delight. This is a dessert that you want to admire for a while, and only then taste it. Professional confectioners today offer a wide selection of decorations, among which everyone will find the ideal option for their wedding. For several years now, sponge cakes with cream cheese (thick cream based on mascarpone cheese) have been popular. This cream allows you to cover the cake perfectly smoothly or, conversely, create different textures. However, the options for creating cream cakes are very limited. For a more complex design, it is impossible to do without sugar mastic or chocolate. Only with their help are real masterpieces obtained. Another way of decoration is painting with food paints, when the cake can become a real work of art.
When choosing a birthday cake, you should consider the concept, style and idea of the wedding. When choosing cake decor, take into account the overall style of the wedding and its color scheme. This way the cake will look harmonious in the photo and will become a bright accent in the concept of your holiday.
Table for calculating the weight of the product by number of people
So, now you have before your eyes certain information regarding the banquet. This is the number of people who will eat the delicious sweet.
This is the variety of menu provided at the banquet. Having two accurate data, using the table, you can easily independently calculate the size and dimensions of the main confectionery product of the wedding banquet.
| Number of guests | Cake weight (kg) | Possible tiers |
| 20 | 3 | 1 |
| 30 | 4 | 2 |
| 40 | 5 | 3 |
| 50 | 6 | 4 |
It is customary to expect an average of 100-150 grams per person. At the same time, be sure to make additional pieces. They can be either 1 or 2 kilograms. The weight of the additional pieces of cake will depend on whether you want to keep the sweetness for yourself afterwards to try in the morning.
Believe me, it's very convenient. Firstly, there is no need to think about what to cook on your first morning together. Secondly, your stomach will already be light and empty, so there will be a completely unusual opportunity to try sweetness on an empty stomach and appreciate its taste.
How to choose a cake for a summer, autumn, winter wedding?
Wedding cakes differ depending on the season of the celebration. For a summer celebration, you will need a thick cream that will harden in the refrigerator and will hold its shape until the dessert is cut. Creams with added oil work well. You should not decorate with fruits, as they will quickly lose their shape.
For an autumn celebration, a cake with apples, pears and other fresh fruits and berries is suitable. Most often, the cake is decorated with red and yellow leaves.
The main emphasis is that this is harvest time.
Any cake is suitable for a winter wedding, but it is better to give preference to less fatty and more sour ones.
Do not use exotic fruits or berries collected in the spring for decoration or filling.
If the wedding cake is without mastic and consists of several tiers, then you should definitely order delivery from the pastry shop, otherwise the newlyweds risk scraping the dessert off the floor of the car. Professionals know how to transport it correctly, and thanks to special equipment, the cake will not spoil.
When answering the question of how to choose a wedding cake, you need to focus on the style of the event, since the treat should also be in harmony with the festive atmosphere that reigns at the celebration. When choosing a dessert, you should also take into account the wishes of the newlyweds. Happy and sweet wedding!
What is the price of a wedding cake?
When choosing a cake for a wedding, you will notice that prices vary greatly. There is a certain average cost, which some confectioners noticeably increase, while others, on the contrary, reduce.
The most expensive cake decor:
- gold and silver paints;
- marzipan coating (their sugared almonds);
- flowers with complex technique;
- hand-sculpted figurines of newlyweds.
When you need a cake that is light in weight but still looks like a real masterpiece, you can use a cardboard frame. This technology allows even a small dessert to look very impressive.
The frame is able to shape the cake and decorate it with complex decorations that are impossible for a small cake. This way, you can save money without spending it on extra pounds of dessert.
The cost also depends on what filling is chosen:
- a creamy butter-based filling will be the most inexpensive, but heaviest food to complete a hearty evening;
- cake based on a light soufflé - average in cost, withstands various dessert decorations;
- A cake made from yogurt or marzipan will cost more than all the others, its main advantage is that such a dessert is both beautiful in appearance and very tasty.
Four tier wedding cake with ribbon weighing 9 kg
If you take into account the nuances of choosing a wedding cake and follow all the recommendations, then the unpleasant situation of a lack of dessert for guests will be eliminated. There will be enough desired delicacy for all the invited people and for the newlyweds themselves. Wedding cake is a delicious tradition at every such celebration. And traditions must be maintained and respected!
