How Much Cake Per Person: a Guide to Portions

Somebody ordering a cake for twenty people usually does one of two things. They order a cake that feeds ten and hope, or they order two cakes and are still eating the second one on Thursday.

This is the arithmetic, which nobody publishes and everybody needs.

What an 18 cm cake gives you

Ten to twelve slices. That is the honest range for every 18 cm cake on our list.

The variation inside it is not about the cake. It is about who is cutting. A confident host with a sharp knife gets twelve. A nervous one gets eight and there is a third of a cake left over, which is a happy problem but not the one you were solving.

Twelve is achievable on every one of our cakes. If you need twelve, say twelve to whoever is cutting, and cut the first slice deliberately small so the rest follow it.

Richness changes the number

This is the part people leave out.

The rich ones go further. Prague cake, the muraveynik, the Basque cheesecake, the Kyiv cake. Twelve slices is comfortable and most people will not come back for a second. For a table of twelve who are eating after a full dinner, one of these is enough on its own.

The light ones do not. Bird’s Milk, Charodeyka, the meringue roll, the strawberry cake. People eat a slice, enjoy it, and take another, and a table of ten will take fourteen slices between them. For a light cake, count nine or ten rather than twelve.

Cake as the only dessert, or one of several

If the cake is the whole dessert, use the numbers above.

If there is a table with several things on it, everything changes. People take a smaller slice of cake and fill the plate with the other things, and an 18 cm cake will serve sixteen or eighteen at a spread where there are also pastries.

That is the cheapest way to feed a room well: one cake and two or three boxes of small things, rather than two cakes. It looks more generous, it costs less, and nothing is left over in a shape nobody wants to eat.

Muraveynik (Anthill Cake)£76Honey Cakefrom £76

Worked examples

Eight people, after dinner, cake only. One 18 cm cake, any of them. There will be a little left.

Twelve people, afternoon, cake only. One 18 cm rich cake, cut carefully. If it is a light cake, add a box of something.

Twenty people, afternoon tea. One 18 cm cake plus three or four boxes of pastries. Do not order two cakes.

Twenty people, evening, cake is the moment. Two 18 cm cakes, or talk to us about a tray size, which is what the larger format exists for.

Forty people, office. One tray cake plus five or six boxes of pastries and pirozhki, and the pastries will go first.

Children's party, twelve children. One 18 cm cake, and expect a third of it to come back on plates uneaten. Children want the cake to exist more than they want to eat it.

The tray sizes

Three cakes are made in a tray format rather than only at 18 cm: the honey cake, the Napoleon and the Bird’s Milk.

A tray is not a big round cake. It is a rectangle, it is cut into squares, and it serves far more people per pound than buying multiple 18 cm cakes would. It is also much easier to portion evenly, which matters at an event where somebody is serving rather than everybody helping themselves.

Those are arranged by talking to us rather than through the checkout, because the sizes, the timing and the delivery all need a conversation.

Napoleon Cake (18cm)Napoleon cake, 18 cm. Crisp puff pastry layers with vanilla custard cream, rested so the layers soften.£86Order this

How much to order per person for pastries

Different arithmetic entirely, and the boxes are six or four.

Pirozhki: one and a half each as a snack, two as part of a spread, three as lunch.

Sweet pastries at a tea table: two each across the whole table, mixed rather than all the same.

Choux, trubochki and other cream filled items: one each. They are richer than they look.

Cookies and dry items: assume they will be eaten steadily all afternoon and that whatever you order will go.

Why bakeries quote different numbers

You will see an 18 cm cake described as serving eight in one place and sixteen in another, and both are telling the truth about different situations.

Wedding portions are the small end. The trade standard for a wedding is a finger portion roughly 2.5 cm by 5 cm, which is deliberately small because there has been a full meal and there will be an evening buffet. An 18 cm round cut that way gives a startling number of portions and nobody complains, because nobody is hungry.

Dessert portions are the large end. A slice served as the pudding course, on a plate, with nothing else, is two or three times the size of a wedding portion. That is where eight comes from.

Party portions sit in between and are what most people mean. Ten to twelve from an 18 cm round.

So when you compare two bakeries and one claims twice as many servings, check which portion they are quoting rather than assuming one of them is exaggerating. Our ten to twelve is a party portion, cut with a normal knife by a normal person at a normal table.

Common questions

How many slices does an 18 cm cake give?

Ten to twelve. Twelve is achievable on all of them if the first slice is cut deliberately small.

Do I need more cake if it is a light one?

Yes. Count nine or ten portions rather than twelve for Bird’s Milk, Charodeyka or the meringue roll, because people take a second slice.

What should I order for twenty people?

One 18 cm cake and three or four boxes of pastries, rather than two cakes. It feeds better and it looks better.

Do you make larger cakes?

The honey cake, the Napoleon and the Bird’s Milk are made in tray sizes for events. Those are arranged directly with us rather than through the checkout.

How many pirozhki per person?

One and a half as a snack, two in a spread, three as a meal.

Is there a minimum order?

Yes, £50 across the basket.

Ordering

Choose your date at the checkout, at least 48 hours ahead, and if you are not sure about quantities for an event, message us before you order rather than after.