I would like to bake the Golden Dream Wedding Cake for my sister’s bridal shower- to serve about 50 people. The recipe in Rose’s Heavenly Cakes serves 150 people at 3 tiers- 12 in, 9 in and 6 in rounds. I need to scale this down to serve 50 but I don’t know how. I own The Cake Bible, but I am confused by the Rose Factor, and from what I have read, it does not apply to all the cakes (and not this one).

Some considerations:  1. I would like the serving sizes to be bigger than what you would serve at a wedding.  2. I would prefer to bake a square or sheet cake, but I am worried about converting the recipe to a different size/shape pan.

Does anyone have any suggestions for scaling down this recipe? Should I leave out a tier? Bake it as a sheet cake? Stick to round tiers only? Any ideas/suggestions are welcome.

By the way, this will be my first large cake for a party… I hope I am not in over my head! I took a class at ICE (Techniques of Cake Decorating I) and I have been studying Rose’s books but this will be my first time baking something of this scale…

I would suggest making just the 12” round tier of the Golden Dream.  That way, the recipe is all figured out and you don’t have to mess with either the Rose Factor or stacking tiers.  And you’ll still have a beautiful, round cake that will look great.

Just be sure to think through the cutting of it- whoever cuts it will need to be aware of how many slices are needed and to use the concentric circle pattern.  There’s a diagram on p.537 of the Cake Bible.  Those slices are tiny, and you’d probably want to increase the size of them, but that diagram will give you an idea of how it’s done.

If you pay attention to details there’s no reason to believe the cake will be anything but a great success- it’s one of my favorite cakes in the book, I’ve made it a number of times.  The buttercream is divine, and the syruped cake stays moist and flavorful.  Your sister is lucky!

Thank you so much for your reply. I will take your advice and bake just the 12 in round tier. I was primarily worried about having enough servings, but today I found out that their will be less than 50 women at the shower (closer to 30)  so I think I should be okay! I was just getting my ingredients together and I have another question… The recipe calls for Bleached All-Purpose Flour. I usually use cake flour and I only have Unbleached AP flour on hand. Can I use the Unbleached AP flour that I have instead of the Bleached AP? Or is this kind of substitution really not a good idea? I really want everything to be perfect…  Thanks again!

Definitely not a good idea, your cake may sink in the center.  Pick up a sack of national brand bleached AP.

will do….thank you for the great advice!