I'm making a stacked birthday cake this weekend and the tiers are one 9" and one 6" round. My friend wants to come and pick it up and take it to her party, but can she take it already stacked? I thought you had to set up tiered cakes at the event. I want to do borders and I am making fondant stars set on sticks for the top. How can she travel with this?

I have traveled with a two tier cake and it is fine. Just make sure you use dowels in your cake, especially one threw the whole cake.

Put a dowel through both tiers and you should be ok

what about traveling with a 12, 10 and 8?? can i transport that stacked??

Your friend should be able to travel safely with your cake if the dowels are placed in both cakes correctly. I would put a dowel down the center of both tiers.

I had to do it this way when I made my basketball through the hoop cake.

Momof3jotynjake, I'm sure you could travel with a stacked 12, 10, and 8 cake? Although it seems it would be very heavy when taking it out of your vehicle during delivery. Maybe someone else can give you better advice on this.

if you have a 3 layer cake..i would not travel with it put together. Its better to be safe than sorry!!

I wouldn't stack 3 tiers and travel... I'd wait till I got where I was going and assemble it there .. have all your tips, icing,etc with you to finish the cake up

Hi! Thanks for all the replies! It's only a two layer stacked cake, a 9" round and a 6" round. If I want to have it travel stacked and need a long dowel in the middle to support it, how do I go about placing it in there? I have only made one stacked cake before and I set it up at the event. Each cake was on a cake board. Do I leave the cake off of the cake board? I'm really new to this!!!

I also advise to place it on non-skid shelf liner, not on a lap...it will be fine. Also, the straw method is my favorite, not wooden dowel to support the cakes. To dowel through both of them you will use a wooden dowel...after you have stacked the cakes in a traditional way, with the boards and support, drive a sharpened dowel rod through the entire cake with a tapping of a hammer through the middle board until it reaches the bottom board, you will feel it, this just helps with shifting issues. Clear as mud? Blessings on your baking, Shawn <><

Most people don't like to transport more than two tiers stacked.
Make certain that you have a good strong cake base to support these cakes, 1/2 inch plywood or a base that can handle the weight. Personally I wouldn't use straws for dowelling anything more than two small tiered cakes, definitely not larger ones or more than two tiers. I know some people do, but I prefer to stick with the traditional method of dowelling cakes.
Regarding how well a stacked cakes transports has more to do with the density of the cake and the boarding and dowelling and that centre dowel. Also the height and weight of the cakes.
I put my centre dowel in from the bottom up. I measure the height of the cakes it will be in, if I don't want it sticking out of the top one, I cut it slightly shorter than the total height of the cakes. I cut holes in the centre of the bottom of the cake boards that the upper cakes will sit on. I mark the centre of the bottom cake, having an extra pair of hands hole that dowel in place in the bottom cake centre, I then thread through the upper tiers looking underneath the board to line up the hole in the centre ot the dowel.
If your cakes are good and dense and level, than transporting three tiers together, with the addition of the centre dowel, shouldn't be a problem. I use larger moving boxes that I line with the non skid rubbery shelf liner and I also place the boxed cake on top of a large piece of the liner on the floor of the vehicle.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Ok, I think I get the center dowel thing now. I will use that for sure. Thanks so much for everyone's help! I was going to use DH mixes for the two tiers. I have used them before, but are they really dense enough? I know everyone has their personal preference on the mixes, but which one is the most dense?

I think it should transport fine if you dowel it properly .. I still transport mine separately and assemble when I get there .. but that's just my choice

The one thing you will find if you read up on stacked cakes is that they always recommend a dense textured cake. If the cake is covered with fondant, it is even more of an issue. If the cake is stacked, covered with fondant and a whimsical cake, that is more of an issue.
Personally I would not make a cake mix from the box instructions for a stacked cake. I would be adding the pudding and reducing the oil or adding sour cream - anything to make the cake more dense and less, well spongey. The stability of the filling you use is also important. Some fillings slip and slide or absorb back into the cake and such, so you want a good stable filling like a buttercream and you want to make certain that you put a stiff buttercream dam before filling your cakes. I do this even if I am only filling the cakes with buttercream It isn't that this will always spell disaster, it won't, but sometimes the density of the cake makes the structure unsound. The dowelling is only good enough to support a cake than can support the dowelling. That is more the issue. The boards and the dowelling work in addition to the cake. Think of it like building a deck. You have your sono tubes that you fill with cement and you sink your supports into. Then you have your horizontal and vertical supports. All of the elements work together.
If your cake is too squishy, for lack of a better word, well when you insert the dowelling into it, the dowelling itself can cause earthquake cracks because the cake cannot support it. Then you add the heavy cakes on top and it can spell trouble.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

For a stacked cake that you will be transporting stacked, I would use a doctored cake mix recipe like one of the following, or the one for the pound cake where you only add about 2-3 tbsp. of oil and cut back the liquid.
1 Duncan Hines Deluxe White Cake Mix
1 Jello Instant Pudding Mix - 4 serving size
4 large egg whites
I added 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup oil
Mix on low for 30 seconds, then on medium for 2 minutes. Then bake in greased and floured pan as per the box directions.
I tripled this for a larger sheet cake and I have to say, as much as I am not a big cake mix fan, it was darn good. It does sink a bit after it comes out of the oven, but it has a great texture and is nice and moist. So I would do it again. If you haven't tried out this site, it is pretty good. Probably would give it an A in my search for the best white cake. That would be A out of a rating that might possibly come up with an possible A+. Still, pretty darn impressive


Aussi From the Wilton Site's Extendacake Pound Cake
1 pkg of any kind of cake mix to which you add all of the ingredients called for on the box
In addition:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup Crisco oil - she substitutes 1/2 cup softened butter instead and so did I - wonderful!
2/3 cup water
I beat the butter, then added all of the ingredients the cake mix called for and then all of the other ingredients. Then I blended on low for 1 minute, then 2 minutes on medium, scraping the bowl down. Gnerally, cook at 325F for the larger cakes, 350 for smaller and you will need to add baking time, perhaps about 10-15 minutes to the times given on the cake mix box. I checked ever 5 minutes or so over the cake mix times. Also a wonderful cake.

Oh my goodness, thank you all so much for all the help!!! I will try the new recipes. I am just starting out and still learning and it helps so much to get ideas from others.

For my sister's wedding cake, I used a DH lemon supreme mix and just followed the recipe on the side of the box for the pound cake (it called for pudding, etc.). It wasn't too heavy, but very moist, and perfect for tiered construction. I filled it with raspberry filling from the local cake supply store, and there wasn't a single piece left - everyone loved it. I don't know if I missed what flavors you had chosen, but I recommend lemon and raspberry to anyone! Good luck!