How Much Frosting To Fill A 10 In Cake

The age sometime question…how much buttercream practice I need?? For a batch of cupcakes? A vi-inch layer cake? For a nuptials cake?!

This post shares everything you demand to know to make the perfect corporeality of frosting for any baking projection. It's basically the frosting version of my cake batter calculator.

The amount of frosting y'all demand varies based on the post-obit factors:

Size of cake layers
Shape of cake layers
Number of block layers
Decoration style (semi-naked, smooth, buttercream rosettes, large swirls on top, on etc.)

With the aid of my buttercream formula and chart below, you'll be able to figure it out in a snap!

image of a buttercream cake being frosted with sharp edges and smooth sides to show How to Frost a Cake Smoothly

Does It Affair What Type of Buttercream I'm Using?

This guide can be used for pretty much any type of frosting. Whether you're using American, Swiss, Italian, Russian, or even German language, a cup of frosting is a cup of frosting.

My but annotation on this is that I notice I sometimes need a tiny bit more American buttercream to make a perfectly smooth cake.

If I'thousand using a meringue based frosting, it usually is a bit easier to smooth and I can utilise slightly less on the sides of the cake.

How Does this Buttercream Calculator Work?

Creating this chart meant thinking through what we're trying to calculate.

To know how much frosting nosotros'll need, nosotros need to use the formula of a cylinder, the formula of a circumvolve, and and so back out how many cubic inches are in a cup to get to our answer.

With that in heed, the formula I used is:

Cups Needed = ((area of a circle x thickness of the layer of frosting ten number of layers) + (surface area of a cylinder minus meridian and bottom)) / by cubic inches per cup

Or in terms of numbers for a six inch, 2 layers cake, this meant:

Cups needed =((pi x r in^two 10 .33 in x ii) + (2 x pi 10 r in ten h in ten .25 in))/fourteen.four inⁱⁱⁱ

I had to make some assumptions in this formula, including that the outer coat of frosting will be nigh ane/iv inch thick, and that the frosting layers within the cake will exist nigh 1/3 inch thick.

This is based on how I actually decorate my cakes! I love thick layers of frosting inside, but similar in my expiry past chocolate block shown above.

Withal, if you utilize a lot less frosting between your cake layers, or if you want to brand a blueprint that requires a lot of extra buttercream (like buttercream rosettes) these numbers might need to be adjusted.

If y'all aren't a big fan of math, don't worry! I've used this formula to create a nautical chart below that'southward super piece of cake to apply. Information technology'll instantly tell you how much buttercream you need 🙂

Step 1: How Big is the Cake You're Making?

The size, shape and number of cake layers will touch how much frosting you need.

In general, I discover one batch or about 6 cups of frosting is the perfect amount for a 7-inch or eight-inch layer cake that's decorated with buttercream swirls on meridian.

I commonly accept a tiny flake leftover, simply it'south only near correct. This makes sense based on my calculations below!

image of a gluten free funfetti cake that's been decorating with buttercream stripes and a pink drip

Step 2: Use My Buttercream Calculator to Figure Out How Much Frosting You Need

Based on the size of your block, utilize the charts below to figure out how much frosting you need. This is merely to fill up, crumb coat, and encompass a layer cake.

Add an addition 1-two cups of frosting to the numbers beneath if yous desire to pipe large buttercream swirls on meridian of the cake.

Or if you want to make a frosting intensive design like covering a cake in buttercream rosettes, add together an boosted two-3 cups of frosting for a cake ranging from half dozen-eight inches. It sounds insane, only those designs require so much extra frosting!