How Many People Does A 6 Inch Cake Serve
As I mentioned, a 6 inch cake is a great option for a small gathering, and you can get 8 decent slices out of this size of a cake. This can, of course, depend on how big or small your slices are, but this is a general guideline and serves a Goldilocks size slice of cake, even for kids.
I hope that this post have left you well-prepared to make your next small birthday cake, smash cake for your kid or another kiddo you love, or simply understand how to easily adapt your favorite cake recipe into a simple recipe for 6 inch cake for whatever reason you have to eat cake .
And remember There are ways to use up leftover cake scraps and frosting! My birthday cake ice cream or cake pops are a great place to start .
I look forward to seeing you inside my Skillshare course, but if thats not your thing, I still hope to see your beautiful 6 inchers on Insta and Facebook!
Recipe Testing: What Works & What Doesnt
What Makes This The Perfect 6 Inch Cake Recipe
Texture: I wanted the texture of this cake to be pretty tight. I dont like when there are large air tunnels throughout in my cake or when the crumb is too crumbly or too bread-y. I wanted a perfect combination of moisture, density, and fluffiness.
For instance, if your cake has too much moisture, it can be kinda gummy and super dense and heavy. We obviously dont want that. If the cake is super light and airy, it can be a little too spongy or not sturdy enough to stack three layers. Many factors play into making the perfect cake.
Flavor: To me, the perfect vanilla cake tastes like a combination of butter, sugar, flour, milk and vanilla. I dont want my cake to taste super buttery, I dont want it super sweet and I certainly dont want it to taste like just cake flour* or buttermilk. Cake flour and buttermilk obviously have their place in cakes but there needs to be a good balance.
*sometimes I find that some brands of cake flour provide a different flavor
Simplicity: No one wants to make the BEST cake out there if the ingredient list is inaccessible or the instructions are obnoxious. Some will still say this one is way too much work but remember, youre making a cake from scratch not a box mix.
Adaptability: I wanted my perfect 6 inch cake to be easily adapted to other flavors. Ive tried many different version of this cake with different flavors and its very versatile.
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Cupcake Batter = 3 Layer 6 Inch Cake
Cupcake batter that produces about 12-15 cupcakes is the perfect amount for a 3 layer 6 inch cake. One dozen cupcakes usually takes about 3-4 cups of cake batter, which divides perfectly between 3 6 inch cake layers. This means that you can essentially turn any batch of cupcakes into a small layer cake. Ive tested this several times with many different flavors, but usually stick with vanilla cake and chocolate cake, which are made from my vanilla cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes respectively.
What Kind Of Frosting To Use For This 6 Inch Vanilla Cake
This type of cake pairs well with many different frostings. You can pair it with basically any European or American buttercream. My favorites are Swiss meringue buttercream and cream cheese frosting.
The cake featured in the post is the Rhubarb Vanilla Cake with Swiss meringue buttercream. If you omit the jam and add vanilla. youll have a vanilla cake!
You can also try the most luxurious buttercream I have a whole post on How To Make French Buttercream. Flavor it with 1 Tbsp of vanilla, 1/2 cup cocoa powder or even 1/2 cup of Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce.
For more buttercream flavors, make sure to check out my new cookbook Frosted! It has 13 base frosting recipes to chose from and teaches you how to customize and troubleshoot them.
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Cake Tiers And Serving Sizes
- The 12-inch cake layer serves 40-60 people
- the 10-inch cake layer serves 30-40 people
- the 8-inch cake layer serves 20-25 people
- and the 6-inch cake layer serves 10 people.
The number of cake servings produced by the size of each tier of your cake is calculated as follows: In most cases, a 12 wedding cake will feed 40-60 guests.The 10 cake placed on top of it feeds 30-40 people, while the 8 cake placed on top of that serves 20-25 guests.As a result, a conventional three-tier cake with tiers of 12, 10, and 8 inches in height serves around 100 people.Narrower cakes will be smaller, more cheap, and will serve fewer people than their wider counterparts.
Easy 6 Inch Vanilla Cake
- Using the oven, prepare a dish of American cuisine.
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How To Frost & Decorate A 6 Inch Cake
You need about 2.5-3 cups of frosting to frost a 3 layer 6 inch cake. The frostings paired with the cupcake recipes listed above are plenty for your 6 inch cake, such as vanilla buttercream or chocolate buttercream. Assembling and decorating a 6 inch cake is just like putting together a larger cake, but the smaller size is definitely easier to work with.
Tools I find helpful:
Since this is a small cake, its easy to pick up with a couple flat spatulas and carefully transfer to a cake stand or serving plate. You can also use cake boards, which are cardboard cut-outs that provide a sturdy foundation for your cake if you need to move it to another surface.
Small cakes are taking over! Which flavor will you try first?
PS: I bought the pictured teal cake stand from Home Goods and unfortunately cant find a link to it for you! Make sure you find a cake stand thats about 8 inches in diameter to comfortably fit the 6 inch cake.
The Reverse Creaming Method
For this cake, I used the Reverse Creaming Method. Instead of mixing butter with sugar until light and aerated, we start with mixing all of the dry ingredients.
Next, softened butter is added a few tablespoons at a time followed by the liquids until everything is moist and the batter starts to come together. Lastly, egg whites are slowly streamed into the bowl until the batter is smooth and ready to be baked.
The batter will look rather thick and lumpy before the egg whites are added. The liquid hydrates the flour and mixes until everything comes together in a smooth batter. Be sure to stop the mixer often and thoroughly scrape down the bowl. Some lumps are okay here.
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How To Prep Your 6 Inch Cake Pans
After you choose your 6 inch cake batter, its time to start prepping the cake pans. First, make sure you have quality 6 inch cake pans. I started using Fat Daddios 6 inch cake pans last year and loved them so much that I switched out my 9-inch and 8-inch cake pans for the Fat Daddios brand. From one baker to another these pans are incredible quality for the price. Not working with this brand, just a genuine fan.
The smaller the cake, the more difficult it is to neatly release from the baking pan. Heres my guaranteed solution so that your 6 inch cake layers glide right out:
I usually keep a stack of parchment rounds on hand just in case Im in a rush to get a cake in the oven. For cake emergencies, of course.
Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans and bake.
Whipped Crme Frache Frosting
Dont forget about the frosting! This whipped buttercream is likely the best vanilla frosting Ive tasted in a long time.
White chocolate makes it creamy while the crème fraîche adds a bit of tang to balance out the sweetness and allows the vanilla to really shine! It is smooth and silky, just like my beloved Swiss meringue buttercream, but packed with so much vanilla flavor and made in a fraction of the time.
Keep the consistency smooth and spreadable by not overloading it with confectioners sugar. Allow the frosting to whip until light and fluffy, then stir it with a spatula to knock out all the air bubbles before icing the cake.
To Make the Frosting
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment , mix the butter on medium speed until smooth, about a minute. Add the crème fraîche and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Stop the mixer and add about 4 cups of the sugar. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Add the melted white chocolate and mix until combined. Turn the mixer up to medium-high and mix until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. The frosting should be very pale in color and easily spreadable. Add more sugar as needed until desired consistency is reached.
To Assemble
Serve the cake at room temperature to ensure that the frosting is creamy and silky.
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How Many Does A 6 Inch Cake Serve
The majority of my 6 inch cake recipes make a single layer cake, which makes 4-6 slices of cake. See the beautiful ombre cake below to see 6 small slices of cake. A few of the recipes make a double layer cake, because they’re more festive, like my red velvet cake and vegan vanilla birthday cake. Those cakes serve 6-8 people because the slices are thicker.
The frostings on these cakes range from standard American buttercream , to freshly whipped cream on my mini lemon layer cake and mini tres leches cake. I’ve also used a pourable chocolate ganache on my mini chocolate cake for two, and an unusual broiled sweet oatmeal topping on my oatmeal cake recipe.
Cupcake Batter Translates To Two Or Three Layer 6 Inch Cake
Standard cupcake recipes that yield anywhere from 12 to 15 cupcakes are the perfect amount of batter for 6 inch cakes, whether theyre two or three layers.
Of course, if you use the same amount of batter for two pans split into three pans, your three layers will be a little thinner than what the two layers would be. This is all about personal preference and desired aesthetic.
Here are two sets of pans filled with cake batter. On the left, my chocolate cake batter . On the right, my vanilla bean cake batter .
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How Many People Does An 8
- A square 8-inch cake, on the other hand, can feed up to 32 people because it has more inches than a circular cake and is cut in the event manner.
- It is possible to feed up to 114 people from a tiered round cake with triple tiers of 8, 10, and 12 inches if the cake is sliced evenly.
- It is possible to feed up to 150 people with a square cake of the same size.
Choosing Your Tiered Cake Cost
Make a decision on your cake budget and make a strategy to stick to it.When it comes to layer cakes, this may be a surprisingly difficult task to do.Extra layers are one of the most effective ways to increase the cost of your cake.Why?
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Cake Serving Chart & Baking Guide Wilton
How Much Frosting Do I Need For A 6 Inch Cake
To lightly cover a 6 inch cake, you can get away with a batch of frosting that uses 1 cup of butter but that wont leave any extra for decorating.
If youre looking to decorate as well, I recommend 1.5-2 batches of frosting so youll want to use at least 1 1/2 cups of butter.
For example, the Swiss meringue buttercream and the French buttercream, linked above, both use 1 cup of butter in their recipes. To make enough frosting for decorating, youll need 1.5-2x that.
So that would be 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 6 large egg yolks, about 1/3 cup water, 1 1/2 cups butter, etc.
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Your Cake Your Cake Stand
- The size and shape of your cake stand are ultimately determined by the size and shape of your cake. Generally speaking, you will select your cake first, followed by your cake stand. Cake stands are available in a variety of forms, sizes, and patterns! However, if your cake stand is an antique or if you have already acquired one, you should bring it with you to the tastings. Your baker will want a copy of it before he or she can design your cake. Following are some pointers to bear in mind when determining what size cake stand you require: Ideally, the size of your cake stand should be the same as, if not slightly greater than, the size of the bottom layer of your cake. You should never use a cake stand that is any smaller than the bottom tier of the cake.
- When making a simple decorated cake, use a cake stand that is the same size as the cake. In case your cake contains elaborate embellishments, select a cake stand that is somewhat larger than the bottom tier of the cake.
- Check to see that the top supporting plate of your cake stand is completely flat. Even tiny dips in the cakes base might cause it to become unstable.
- Depending on the shape of your cake, you may need to purchase a larger cake stand to fit the cake board
- otherwise, you may use a smaller cake stand with a larger cake board.