There aren’t any set in stone rules about what size cake board you need. This all depends on the style, shape, size and weight of your cake. Sometimes a cake board can become part of the cake’s features or design and other times, it is purely practical and used as a base for your cake. Cake boards are also great for support and can aid with getting the professional look, particularly if this is your business. With our handy top tips, you can avoid the kitchen foil covered cardboard look.
Measure
The first and probably most obvious step would be to know what size cake you are making. Find out what size tin you are using to bake in and if you aren’t sure, get a tape measure and physically measure it. As a basic guide, your cake board would need to be 2 to 3 inches bigger than the diameter of your cake.
Design
You may like to consider adding lettering or decorations to the cake board. If so, it may be better to choose a slightly bigger cake board than originally suggested to allow space for them. It may be worth bearing in mind that cakes do not necessarily have to be centred on the board. You could offset them (place nearer to the back of the board) on both square and round cake boards, allowing more space at the front for lettering etc.
Cake Type
Sponge cakes are usually relatively light and therefore we would recommend using a thinner cake board so as not to take any effect away from the piece itself. It is still best to choose a board that is approximately 2 inches larger than your sponge or if it’s a novelty or a cake of irregular shape possibly even bigger.
Fruit cakes can be quite heavy and weigh several kilograms. In this case it is best to use a drum style board as they offer much more stability for such dense bakes. Again, you will need to choose a board that is 2 to 3 inches larger than the tin it was baked in, but it is also important to take into account how you are icing it. For instance, a traditional wedding cake is usually covered with a layer of marzipan followed by either rolled fondant or royal icing and so a larger board will allow extra room for this double covering. Decorations on wedding cakes are often very delicate and in this case a larger board again will ensure that any intricate additions on the sides or along the bottom edge can’t slip off or be accidentally knocked.
Tiered Cakes
If you are making a tiered cake, with several different cakes displayed as one, the size will depend on the look you are going for. Often tiered cakes come right to the edge of the board to disguise it, in which case buy the same size boards as your tins. They are often slightly bigger to allow for layers of icing. If you wish your boards to be visible or used for decorations, be consistent with the size difference for each tier. For example, for a 3 tier cake with cakes of 6, 8 and 10 inches we would recommend boards of 8, 10 and 12 inches so that each board is 2 inches bigger than each cake.
Cake boards are so widely available now in a whole choice of different shapes, colours and sizes. Please take a look at our range here. We hope that you have found this information useful and you can now purchase cake boards in the future with all the knowledge that you may need.
Sources:
https://www.sweetinspirationonline.co.uk/size-cake-board-need/
https://www.cakecentral.com/forum/t/685767/cake-board-sizes
