If you’re planning a party, it might be a good idea to provide a sheet cake. Believe it or not, there is such a thing as too much cake since you can only make and eat so many cake pops from spare pieces of cake. That’s why you should take a look at cake sheet sizes to choose the right one for your next party.
Sheet cakes come in three standard sizes—full-sheets, half-sheets, and quarter-sheets, which measure 18 × 26 inches, 13 × 18 inches, and 9 × 13 inches, respectively.
Knowing how much surface area each sheet cake size provides is the first step to knowing how many guests you can feed. In the following sections, I’ll explain how you can calculate how many mouths a single sheet cake can feed and how to choose the most appropriate cake sheet.
Sheet Cake Sizes and Serving Count
As I previously stated, there are three common sheet cake sizes: full, half, and quarter-sheets, with a height ranging between 2 and 3 inches. 3-inch-tall sheet cakes are ideal for splitting in half and filling with frosting to produce a layered sheet cake.
To know which sheet cake size will work best for your next party, you should first know how much cake you wish to serve each guest. The most common cake sizes per serving are 2 × 2 inches and 2 × 3 inches.
One of the most important things to keep in mind is whether or not a sheet cake pan will fit inside your oven. Most home cooks might need to prepare multiple half- or quarter-sheet cakes if their ovens cannot fit a single full-sheet cake pan.
Now, let’s calculate how many servings a single sheet cake can provide.
Sheet Cake Size Chart
The table below will demonstrate how many cuts of cake you can get from different sheet cake sizes.
| Sheet Cake Size | Dimensions (in.) | Surface Area (sq. in.) | 2 × 2-in. Serving Count | 2 × 3-in. Serving Count |
| Full | 18 × 26 | 468 | 117 | 78 |
| Full | 18 × 24 | 432 | 108 | 72 |
| Full | 16 × 24 | 384 | 96 | 64 |
| Half | 13 × 18 | 234 | 58 | 39 |
| Half | 12 × 18 | 216 | 54 | 36 |
| Half | 16 × 12 | 192 | 48 | 32 |
| Quarter | 9 × 13 | 117 | 29 | 19 |
| Quarter | 8 × 13 | 104 | 26 | 17 |
As you can see, the terms “full,” “half,” and “quarter” sheet cake are not uniform in the cake-making business. However, generally speaking, if anyone speaks of a full, half, or quarter-sheet cake, they’re referring to 18 × 26, 13 × 18, and 9 × 13-inch sheet cakes, respectively.
Choosing the Right Sheet Cake
There are other considerations to keep in mind when preparing a sheet cake for a party apart from size. They are as follows:
Recipe—how much batter does a recipe produce? You should choose a sheet cake pan that relates to the recipe author’s exact dimensions to produce the perfect amount of cake.
Material—your two choices are aluminum and stainless steel. Aluminum is less expensive but more prone to warping, whereas stainless-steel sheet cake pans can last a lifetime but cost quite a lot.
Layers—if you’re preparing a sheet cake for a small gathering, you might want to make a sheet cake with at least two layers to fill the stomachs of your guests with fewer slices. Choose a 3-inch-deep sheet cake pan for torting (cutting in half).
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