Extra Sheet Cakes

The average wedding cake consists of three tiers: 12 inches, 9 inches, and 6 inches. It can feed 150 people. I find it both impractical and undesirable to make larger round tiers. The texture suffers, becoming less fine, and larger tiers are hard to serve in a timely manner: By the time all the cake is served, half the guests may have departed.

For a larger number of servings, you can bake and frost extra layers to be plated behind the scenes. For example, one 12-inch layer will make about 40 more servings. One 18 by 12 by 2-inch sheet pan is the equivalent of two 12-inch layers and will serve 80. But to prevent doming in these large pans, you must increase the leavening slightly for the butter cakes.