Buttercream & Ganache Calculator

How much frosting a cake takes, and how to make it.

The cake

ShapeSize (in)Height (in)FinishedLayersSpongesTiersSame size

FinishThe usual buttercream cake

Buttercream

641 g

About 2.8 cups, filled and covered

Or ganache

756 g

Ganache is denser, so the same coat weighs more

Ganache, made up

What it is forSets firm, holds a sharp edge

Chocolate

504 g

Double cream

252 g

Worked from the surface the frosting has to cover, so a 12 in cake gets its own answer rather than one and a half times an 8 in. Make about 10% more than this. Scraping a bowl clean mid-crumb-coat is how cakes end up patchy.

Costing that buttercream is the other half of the job. BakerInbox keeps your recipes and prices together.

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