Quick answer
A 3 tier cake with 6, 8 and 12 inch round tiers serves 95 people at wedding portions and 62 at party portions. Wedding portions are the right convention for a stacked cake, because a tiered cake almost always follows a meal and sits beside other desserts.
Wilton Cake Support Rods and Caps Stacking Kit, 14 Piece
Rods with caps, from a named maker, in a category where almost every other listing is an unbranded bag of plastic dowels of unstated diameter.
Best for: a first stacked cake
Check price on AmazonA 6/8/12 inch stack gives 95 wedding servings or 62 party servings. For a tiered cake the wedding figure is usually the one you want: a stacked cake is nearly always cut after a meal, alongside other sweets, and cutting it into birthday-sized slices will leave you with cake rather than a shortage.
The support this stack needs is on the tier support page, and you can change the tiers in the tiered cake calculator.
How many servings does each tier give?
| Tier | Area (sq in) | Wedding | Party | Generous | Batter (cups) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 in round | 28.3 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 2.61 |
| 8 in round | 50.3 | 25 | 16 | 12 | 4.64 |
| 12 in round | 113.1 | 56 | 37 | 28 | 10.44 |
| Total | 95 | 62 | 47 | 17.7 |
What does this stack need to hold itself up?
Each tier below the top carries everything above it, so each one needs a dowel ring and a board. The figures below come from a dowel ring set one inch inside the footprint of the tier above at roughly three inch spacing.
| Tier carrying | Tier above | Dowels | Ring diameter (in) | Approx weight above (lb) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 in | 8 in | Not applicable | - | 19.4 |
| 8 in | 12 in | Not applicable | - | 13.4 |
Before this cake leaves the kitchen
A few things worth knowing before this cake leaves the kitchen. Cream cheese frostings and anything with whipped cream need refrigeration, and plain buttercream softens in a warm room long before it is unsafe, which is a structural problem rather than a health one. Royal icing made with raw egg white, and mousses set with raw egg, are worth swapping for pasteurised egg white or meringue powder when you are baking for children, older guests or anyone pregnant. If you are baking for other people, ask about allergies before you start rather than after, because cross contact happens at the mixing bowl and not at the table. And if you are selling rather than giving cakes away, that is governed by your state cottage food law, which varies a great deal and is worth reading once properly.
What this job actually needs
Wilton Cake Support Rods and Caps Stacking Kit, 14 Piece
$10.99Rods with caps, from a named maker, in a category where almost every other listing is an unbranded bag of plastic dowels of unstated diameter.
Best for: a first stacked cake
Check price on AmazonAmazon prices move often, so check before you buy.
Wilton Decorator Preferred Round Separator Plate, 12 in
$18.36A rigid plate spreads the tier above across the whole dowel ring rather than loading the four dowels it happens to sit on.
Best for: heavy upper tiers
Check price on AmazonAmazon prices move often, so check before you buy.
Fat Daddio's Stainless Steel Jumbo Spatula and Cake Lifter, 16.5 in
$26.69At 16.5 inches it lifts a 14 inch tier, which is past the point where anything smaller will support the middle.
Best for: lifting 12 and 14 inch tiers
Check price on AmazonAmazon prices move often, so check before you buy.
Questions people ask
- Is 95 enough cake for a wedding of that size?
- It is if everyone takes one wedding portion, and in practice not everyone does. A common approach is to size the visible stack for appearance and bake a plain sheet cake in the kitchen to cut from once the display cake runs low, which is cheaper per serving than adding another tier and nobody at the reception can tell the difference.
- Should I use wedding or party portions for a tiered birthday cake?
- Party portions, which gives 62 servings from this stack. A tiered cake at a birthday is usually the main dessert rather than one of several, so people expect a normal slice. Reserve the wedding figure of 95 for a cake that follows a full meal and sits on a dessert table with other things.
- Do the tiers have to be two inches apart in diameter?
- No, though it is the commonest ladder because it looks balanced and leaves room for a dowel ring inside the upper footprint. Three or four inch steps give a more dramatic stack and more room to decorate each tier separately. A one inch step looks crowded and leaves very little margin for the dowel ring, which is a structural problem as well as a visual one.
Related pages
How this page was put together
Researched from pan geometry, published manufacturer capacities, published serving conventions and university extension guidance. Not hands-on testing, and not professional advice.
Figures are labelled as derived, published or trade convention. Where no honest figure exists, the page says so rather than filling the gap.