‘What is the best way to cut a cake?’
This is a question I am asked regularly and with many different definitions of portion size, it is easy to be unsure.
When I began my cake decorating journey, I believed that cakes should be cut into triangle wedges and that was classed as a dessert portion, but what about a cake to serve 24 people? Surely the wedges would be really small?
Read on to find out the different servings and the best technique to have even, crisp servings.
The most important utensil is to find a long, sharp knife. Without this, the cake layers can move and will ruin the final presentation and we all want that insta-worthy cake slice.
The key points to get that perfect cut are listed below
You want to let the knife do the work, with the first cut down the middle of the cake
Each additional cut will be done across from the previous cut
Use a board to catch the pieces when slicing it so that the layers do not fall apart
Clean your knife between slices. Use a tea towel or paper towel to do so.
A hot knife will cut through the frosting more easily.
Cover any uncut cake. The air will dry out the remaining cake if left in the open.
Below is an example of an 8 inch round cake cut into 1.5 inch x 2 inch party portions
How big to cut the slices?
In the cake industry, there are four main portion sizes all depending on your occasion.
Coffee - 1” x 1” A great bite-size piece of cake which compliments tea and coffee. This would be perfect for work meetings with morning tea or afternoon tea.
Wedding - 1” x 2” As the name suggests, perfect serve for a wedding cake. Just enough to go around
Party - 1.5” x 2” The perfect size for a birthday, anniversary, baby showers, hens parties or graduations.
Desert - 2” x 2” For those who ordered the cake for after dinner, the desert size offers generous amounts. (This is my pick as I love eating cake)
Bumbleberry Bakes standard cakes are 4 inches tall. The more tiers on the cake, the more cake to go around.
How many serves per cake?
So how many servings of cake do you need? Below are the serving suggestions for both round cakes and square cakes. With every cake order you will receive a template depending on the style of serve you are after.
Round Cakes Serving portion numbers
Square Cake Serving portion numbers
