Wilton is a company that sells supplies for decorating and baking cakes and offers cake-decorating classes. Cutting a wedding cake or party cake made to feed a crowd is a lot different from cutting a cake made to feed your immediate family. Serving sizes are much smaller in order to feed the maximum amount of people. Smaller serving sizes also ensure that a cake doesn’t have to be monstrous to feed all of the guests. Wilton provides cake-cutting guides that recommend larger serving sizes for party cakes than for wedding cakes.

Wilton provides cutting guides for wedding cakes in a variety of shapes. Wilton describes round, square, heart, petal, oval, hexagonal and paisley tiered wedding cake shapes. Wedding cakes normally have a top tier that is removed prior to serving and frozen for the bride and groom to share on their first anniversary. This tier is not factored into the number of servings of the cake as a whole. Wedding cake slices are typically 1-inch by 2 inches.

After removing the top tier, cut a ring around the outside of the cake by measuring 2 inches in from the outside edge and cutting a circle all the way around the cake. Cut this outer ring into 1-inch pieces all the way around. Repeat this process until you reach the center. Cut the center core like a pie, in equal wedges. A 6-inch tier yields 12 servings, an 8-inch tier yields 24 servings, a 9-inch tier yields servings, a 10-inch tier yields 38 servings, a 12-inch tier yields 56 servings, a 14-inch tier yields 78 servings and a 16-inch tier yields 100 servings.

Square tiers are a bit easier to cut than round ones because every piece is the same size and shape. To cut a square tier, no matter the size, measure 2 inches from the outside edge and cut across the length of the cake. Proceed by slicing 1-inch slices and repeat until the entire cake has been portioned out. An 8-inch square cake has 32 servings, a 10-inch cake has 50 servings, a 12-inch cake has 72 servings, a 14-inch cake has 98 servings and a 16-inch square cake has 128 servings.

Shaped tiers are cut differently, depending on the shape. Ovals, hexagons and paisley tiers are cut just like square tiers. Cut heart cakes in half down the middle lengthwise, then in half width-wise to form quarters. Cut each half in half again lengthwise and portion out 1-inch pieces. The size of each slice remains roughly 1 inch by 2 inches.

Party cakes, such as those served at birthday parties, baby showers and other events, have larger serving sizes than wedding cakes. Typically party cakes are cut into slices 1 1/2 inches by 2 inches. When cutting a cake for a party, cut using the same manner as a wedding cake, but with 1 1/2-inch slices instead of 1-inch slices. The host of the party can always request larger slices, though the number of servings per cake will decrease if larger servings are given.