I have the biggest cake of my career do nxt week & I'm rethinking (freaking out) about my support strategy & transporting plan. It's a 16 square cake that's 4 foot tall. (it's a building
My plan was to transport it in 3 parts. But I've never done that before. I'm worried they will be able to see the seams. Any recommendations for hiding them? Also, does anyone know any tricks or special rods / boards that would work better than the usual? Help!
HI, look up the single plate system on this site under forum( i think cake decorating) It is posted by Leah_s. P/M her if you have to. Many decorator(i have also) use or have used this system. Leah won,t use anything but this. hth She is really nice to help you out with any questions.
I'm doing the mindboggling math here: 48" is 24 cakes x 2" high. HEAVY. For 16" square, according to the Wilton chart, this is 72 cake mixes each weighing about 3-4 pounds baked and iced. Or 24+/- pounds per 4" section...
One piece? with a hydraulic lifting type of handtruck.
Dowels? hard plastic rods cut with a mitrebox.
I would seriously consider transporting this in the 4" sections that would have hard boards underneath, and using an inch thick slab of RKT on the faces to hide the sags and seams. That would have to be installed onsite.
But that would mean completely covering and decorating onsite.
If you have access to a vehicle that is tall enough to deliver it in, I'd transport it fully assembled.
You'll need lots of people to lift it, as it will weigh about 240 lbs. not including the weight of fondant, decorations, all boards, and the support system (that's a guestimate for cake and icing only).
I wouldn't stack with any normal system for cake, since this isn't a normal graduated tier cake (all layers are the same diameter). I'd build it on a central metal pipe that's attached to a sturdy thickness of plywood, and use sturdy internal supports for every 4" of cake height. Plywood base should be as wide as possible to help add stability and prevent tipping during transport.
If this is for a corporate account, perhaps they can pick it up in a commercial vehicle and have plenty of people available for lifting. I'd also be prepared to reapply any fondant that falls off, and plan to have a repair kit to fix anything that could possibly go wrong.
I hope you're being paid well -- this is a huge inconvenience which could lead to double the work that was expected.
Also, I'm sure you have thought this all through BUT do you realize this is 1024 servings? Do you need it to feed that many people? If not, you may be able to some lower portion of the cake in styrofoam which would greatly lower the weight and solve some of your potential sagging and stability issues.
It would seem that if someone is here with a first post, no photos, no link to a website, asking about transportation of a 240 pound, 4 foot tall cake one week prior to the due date of said cake, that there may be a teeny tiny problem with timing/logistics/preparation/training/experience.
If indeed the OP is facing a challenge of this magnitude in 7 days, perhaps advice should be gathered from bakery sources that routinely deliver 240 pound, 4 foot tall cakes rather than from comparative strangers on a semi-anonymous website.
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