Just had a cake split as I was lifting it with 2 Wilton's lifters! Hopefully once the fondant is on, it won't show.
Where can I find large cake lifters? How do you all lift/transfer large cakes?

TIA!

wow how big are these cakes? the Wilton lifter is 11" x 9" right?

I have the small lifters that are 8x8. That's all I have seen. 11x9...really??? Where do I get that?

I may have bad information. I hadn't seen the Wilton lifter before, so I googled it.

Amazon reported it being about 11" x 9", but other sites say 8" x 8".
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001BOELLI/?tag=cakecentral-20

The Wilton website reports it being 8" x 8".
http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=F5E44F60-423B-522D-F605DA5FD1C1079F&killnav=1

Joanne's reports it being able to hold cakes up to 16"!
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat3253&PRODID=xprd656893

I have seen these at Michaels. Use a 40% or 50% coupon to get a good deal.

Ok. Those look exactly like what we have. I've never had a problem with the lifters before but I guess this cake is so soft, it was easy to break. I was just wondering if anything else was out there because honestly, I don't see how these lifters will lift a 16' cake!

I turn large cakes out of pan onto cake rack, then place another cake rack on and flip it back over to cool. Trim to level. If it's the bottom layer, it get's flipped again using a cake rack and then flipped onto cake board. Top layer gets flipped onto the bottom layer by lining up the cake on rack with cake on board and then quickly turning the rack over. Much easier to do all the flipping that to lift or slide.

If it's really big, I use a cookie sheet. The kind with no rims, just the angled edges.

I do the same as prterrell! I even did that method last week with one of those big message cookies.

I found a big wooden pizza paddle a goodwill. I bought it cleaned it up and it works fine to pick up sheet cakes to tranfer them to a cake board. It may sound silly but it works for me.

I recently found a wonderful round cake lifter with a semi-long handle at The Christmas Tree Shoppes. It is much like the paddle used at pizza shops, but it is metal and somewhat smaller. I used it for the last large cake I made, which was a 12x12 square, and it helped SO much! I normally do the cooling racks, and use two crossed in opposite directions, but that often doesn't lend enough support to the sides. This larger lifter was great! PS...it is non-stock coated, so cleanup is a breeze!

I use cardboard circles - large ones like 16 or 18 wrapped in the decorator foil just for lifting large cakes. I use the too to move large sheets of fondant. They work like a charm. I wipe them off and store them for later use.

Wow...all good options. Thanks so much!!

I've used cookies sheets, done the flip thing with cooling racks and also used cardboards. I also have a Superpeel that is fantastic for lifting layers and putting them back on (over the filling for example) without breaking or messing anything up. No only that, I can make a fully loaded pizza and lift it off the counter top and put it on a hot pizza stone without dropping even a shred of cheese! Just google it if you want to know what it is. The guy who sells them invented them with his daughter so it's a small business with excellent customer service.

I've always wondered how Buddy on CakeBoss throws those large cakes around without damage. Does it just take years of practice, or strong hands, or dense cakes, or what? Any thoughts?

Laurie

I use the wilton large lifter and if too big I use an airbake cookie sheet, no lip.

I also use the "no lip"cookie sheet. they come in varying sizes so I have the large one that will do the 11 x 17 sheet cake and a smaller one for smaller cakes. Works great and I wouldn't use anything else. Best part about this is the cookie sheets are multi purpose. HTH

Use two if necessary depends on cake size or shape. A large rectangle cake would take two of the Walton square 9" X 11" lifters. Round cakes can be moved with the round or square.

I just use cake boards of the size of cake I am working on

AIf your going to purchase something to help with that get some acrylic rounds; they're reusable, you can use them for the upside down frosting (I stick a board on top and one on the bottom to help with frosting, sometimes). They come in different sizes and shapes, they're just like cardboard cake rounds except acrylic. I love them!