How do you transport your cakes

Hi,
No, not a dumb question. I have boxes for most of my cakes. For 1/2 sheet cakes I use a sturdy cardboard for the base. For a full sheet I use a board that is triple thick. You can buy them at Michaels or cake supply stores. Or cut your own from a big box. If you cut your own you'll probably want to use more than one piece and tape them together. You want it nice and strong so be sure you have the corrugation going in opposite directions. That's what makes it strong. I use my boxes over and over because I get them and my boards back.

When I do a tiered cake it's put together on location, and I transport each cake in a seperate box or cake carrier. Personally I wouldn't even consider transporting a stacked cake already stacked. At the very least my trim would jiggle loose and not look sharp, and that'd mean leaving it or trying a repair on location. For me it's enough to assemble it once without doing repairs when I get there. I try and be prepared for anything but the best insurance to me is to transport then assemble there. It can be a trick to transport the large base for a wedding cake when you find your biggest box isn't big enough and the top wasn't ever going to fit. Can you guess this happened to me? LOL That's when you tape a cake board at one end or both and create a top using plastic wrap. Works pretty slick.

I have found that the soft rubber mesh (drawer or shelf liners) you can get in rolls at Wal Mart is perfect for lining the bottoms of cake boxes that are bigger than the cakes. Place the cake, which is on it's own board of course, on that and it won't scoot during transport and touch the side of the box/carrier. Okay, this is my experience. Hope it helps. Have fun!

I have to do my first stacked tier wedding cake later this month, and I'm pretty nervous about it. In the past I've always done separate tiers. Everything I've seen says to transport the cake all ready to go, but I don't think I'm going to be able to do that- carry it down a flight of steps and drive the half hour on (bumpy?) country roads to deliver it.

I like to line the trunk- or wherever- with towels too. It's amazing how stable sheet cakes really can stay. They don't slide around as much as you think. I've even put cakes in a larger cake pan for stability in the car when a box hasn't been handy.........

Hi, I have found that if you have or can borrow a SUV to transport your cakes in to be the best, especiallly if they are tiered cakes whether already stacked or separate. I ALWAYS put a sheet of the fubber/foam shelf liner on the floor of the vehicle then set the cake in it's container, what ever that container may be, on it! The cake WILL NOT budge! Just make sure there is nothing in the vehicle that can fall into your cake! Also I place all my cakes on plywood, approx 1/2 in. thick. I just happened to have some spare scraps in the garage and had my husband cut them down to size to fit various size cakes. They come in handy. I was spending way too much on cakeboards. Hope this helps!

Hi,
I cannot recall anyone advising that a stacked cake be transported already assembled. I sure wouldn't dream of doing it. I have been stressed enough just transporting mine in seperate boxes to the site, let alone worrying about all the possibilities for accidents if they were already assembled. I live in the country also and one wedding I did I had to drive up and down hills and cross railroad tracks to get there. Everything rode just fine in the back of my Expedition. I use the rolled rubber matting on the floor and my boxes stay put. I use it in the boxes when the cake is a little small for the box and they don't scoot in the box either. If I were you I'd transport the cakes seperately and put them together there. Just take everything you can imagine you might need to finish the job and/or do repairs and save yourself the stress of the accident waiting to happen if you put it all together at home. Stacked cakes are heavier than most people would think, and not easy to move around. My last wedding cake had to be put together inside then moved thru the house and outside to a patio and two men had a time with it. Good luck and have fun!

I transported my first wedding cake individualy, the "Auria" cake posted here. I was really really nervous that something would happen to the cake, but fortunately nothing happend. All my decorations were in fondant, so didnt' have to worry much about that.

Now...I have heard that you can transport a stacked cake. You basically insert one main dowel throughout the entire cake, all the way down to the base. You can use a foamcore base 1/2" thick and just hammer it in all the way. OR if you use a masonite base, you can either clue it to the board and then make holes the width of your dowel on each base, then just stack each cake on it.
I saw Ron-Ben Israel do this in a demo...

I read on a board, don't know if it was this one or Wilton.. A decorator bought a egg crate mattress cover thing (that goes on top of a bed) from walmart to transport her cakes on. She just puts it in her van & lays the cakes (in a box of course) on top of the shelf liner then the egg crates! I'm going to try it!! Can't hurt! If it doesn't work for that I can always use it on my bed Just thought I'd mention it~

..no such thing as a dumb question! I transport my sheet cakes in a regular sheet cake box and put it in the back of my SUV on the non-skid stuff...works great! I have transported stacked cakes that way also with no problems but I wouldn't dare try to travel our country roads with a tiered cake. It would be just my luck to hit a huge bump or something! For tiered cakes, I put each one in a separate box but what I do is put the tier on it's separator plate and push the little feet through a larger round cake board and then put that in the box. It keeps the edges of the cake from touching anything. Hope that makes sense!

Just to add my two cents: I did successfully transport an assembled two tier cake a distance of app. 50 miles with no problem. I used a center dowel to insure that the second tier would not budge.