My favorite Mayfair pink cake plate has tab handles and three small feet to keep it off the table.
Mayfair Pink Depression Glass Cake Plate
This Shaggy Rose plate from Indiana is green depression glass, similar to the Mayfair except it has no handles.
Shaggy Rose Green Depression Glass Cake
You’ll find several other styles called “cake plates”. Let’s check these out.
For me, as someone who appreciates a perfect layer cake made from scratch, a real cake plate should be flat, and wide enough to frost easily without getting frosting all over the sides. It can be plain glass or china or even plastic.
Dave and I used an inexpensive big glass plate for several years. (Yes, my husband bakes cakes from scratch that are outstandingly good! I’m lucky!) You can find plates like this at thrift store or antique malls and they are usually inexpensive.
On the other hand, Fostoria calls this a two-handled cake plate. I have had this same piece with Lido or Navarre besides the Fostoria Chintz etch shown. These are very pretty pieces but they puzzle me.
Fostoria Chintz Etched Crystal Two Handled Cake Plate
I can see using this for cookies or about anything else you want to serve. But I cannot see putting a cake on this. It’s hard to see in the photo but this plate slopes inward from the rim to the center. Your cake will sag in the center.
Our depression glass companies made cake plates similar to the Fostoria style. They don’t have the little feet so they are flat on the table and some have handles. But Jeannette for one did a much better job making pieces suitable to use with real cakes. This two-handled tray is over 10 inches on the inside, perfect size for a cake, and it is flat. No saggy cakes!
Windsor Pink Depression Glass 2-Handled Tray
Notice the pretty pink one with handles is called a tray, not a cake plate. Jeannette made a cake plate similar to the Shaggy Rose one shown earlier, but I’ve never come across it. Another piece that would be perfect for cake is called a 101/2 inch serving plate. Here it is in clear Windsor.
Windsor Clear Depression Glass 10 1/2 Inch Plate
I checked several depression glass patterns and found similar pieces, handled trays or wider plates with flat center that are big enough to hold a cake. If you like that style, then check out Waterford, Swirl, Doric and Pansy, Mount Vernon. Be careful if you find pieces listed as sandwich plates or salvers as these may be flat or could slope the way the Fostoria plates do.
Here’s to great layer cakes that don’t sag in the middle!
Copyright 2013 Kathy Eickholt