Have any ideas on the best way to fly a wedding cake to Utah from Pennsylvania?

At this point my idea is to ship ahead my decorating equipment out to the home of our friends; pack the 3-tiered, fondant cake (undecorated) and take it with us on the flight, then do the decorations once we get there.

Now....many many years ago I flew a cake out to Colorado, but that was only the (frozen)baked cakes. I made the frosting and decorated once I was there. This time (and many years of experience later ) I figure a any fondant cake that can make it to ICES convention should make it to Utah for a wedding! So my questions right now are:

Do I need to pack the cake with ice paks, as this will be in late June?
Is it better to have it put in with the luggage storage, or buy it a seat with me?

Anyone with any experience in this- I'll take whatever advice I can get!

I would just go ahead and buy your cake a seat. You don't want anyone cramming their luggage in on top of your cakes; plus sometimes on a full flight there isn't much overhead room. I wouldn't think you would need ice packs since fondant doesn't need to be refridgerated. I made my son's outdoor bday party in August. The fondant held up just fine sitting in the shade on a very hot day. It started to sweat a little, but it was really hot. Good luck to you.

Those cakes that make it to ICES on airplanes are all styrofoam dummies--they don't come close to replicating what can (and will) happen to a real cake with filling, etc.

I made my son's wedding cake. I live in Cleveland and the wedding was in Las Vegas. The cake was a 3 tier square, 14+10+6, white cake (WASC) with raspberry preserves and buttercream filling, iced in ivory fondant over buttercream.

I baked the 6 layers for the 3 tiers and placed those in specially constructed boxes that fit each layer tightly. I wrapped each box in saran wrap and foil. Those 6 boxes were put in a piece of carry on luggage and carried carefully until they made it to the overhead luggage bin.

Buttercream, fondant, jars of raspberry preserves, boards, and all decorating items were packed in a large duffle bag and were checked baggage.

I constructed the cake over a 3 day period in a condo on the Vegas Strip. The naked cakes were in perfect condition on arrival, but we had a contingency plan that if there had been significant damage, we just would have gone to a local bakery and either purchased more naked cake or a fully decorated wedding cake.

I would rather take the extra time to decorate on site than to try to figure out how to make significant repairs......JMHO.

Rae

Duplicate post, please also see:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6673071.html#6673071

HTH

I flew 2 fondant covered cakes to NY on Nov 21 on Jet Blue. Cake boxes went under seats in front of us. Overhead compartment not good as things shift. Stacked cakes and attached gumpaste decos in NY. (carried decos on person). In October I sent a 9X12 cake overnight by FEDEX, cost $112, but it got there in perfect condition.