I'm making my first wedding cake and have some questions. Here is a link to the cake I'm making. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NHtg5dMkSzk/TK9Y0OFbUhI/AAAAAAAABBY/_oAY6tJotb0/s400/petal+cake.jpg

it will be three tiers (12-9-6) lemon, red velvet and carrot with buttercream frosting on the outside of cake. Questions:

I know a lot of people say not to transport a tiered cake all put together but I'm thinking with this cake I'll be making the petals the day before and having them dry on the cake using pieces of paper towel to get the shape. Any tips on transporting or alternatives for doing the petals without having them dry on the cake and gluing on site??

The red velvet and carrot cake will have cream cheese frosting in the middle. How long can I keep them out of the frig? If not long, then will putting the cakes in the frig dry out the cakes? I'm hoping to make cakes on Thursday, fill them and frost them on Friday and decorate on Saturday (it's a Saturday evening wedding). Thoughts? Suggestions??

THANK YOU!!

I would assemble the cake before delivery. Just make sure to use a long wooden dowel through the entire cake. You can shape the petal and let them dry before assembly. Or assemble the cake the night before and add your petals and let them dry on the cake. The cream cheese butter cream recipe I use doesn't require refrigeration and it's wonderful to decorate with. The amount of sugar in the recipe acts as a preservative. A lot of people get scared about butter not being refrigerated but my family has left butter on the counter in a butter dish for years and nobody has ever gotten sick. Now if you let it sit outside in direct heat then yes it can spoil. Just make sure to dry some extra petals and take a bag of icing just encase you need to fix any petal that might fall off during delivery. If you make a circle of frosting on the back of each petal it will create a little suction and help the petals stay on better.

SPS was created for civilians to transported assembled wedding cakes themselves. Use it!

Also Earlene's site (google Earlene Moore) has a shelf stable cream cheese icing.

That center dowel thing - phtbbth.

"That center dowel thing - phtbbth."

Leah_s, what's that supposed to mean? Anyway it made me laugh !
Actually, I swear by the center dowel all thru the cake. It has never failed me and gives me piece of mind when I deliver. I deliver all my cakes assembled and never (knock on wood) had a problem.