Just reading a few posts on how awesome the SPS system is, wondering what it is exactally, if it's not on Noggin or Nic, I don't know about it, so speak slowly Anyway, I have a cake in 2 weeks that I have to deliver over 40 miles to the middle of nowhere and would really like a stable trip with as few Tums as possible. Sorry to be totally ignorant on this.

Sue

Yes I to would like to know about the sps system and maybe with some visual aids would be nice to. Ive tried to google it but didnt come up with anything really. Sorry i couldnt help but am curious just as you are so heres a bump.

bump

Me TOO!!! I have to take a HUGE Wedding cake from Texas to Missouri next month! I'm going to need all the help I can get. It's getting closer & I'm getting more and more nervous, but it's too late to back out now.

If you do a search, you will find MANY threads discussing SPS and where to find it...here are a couple

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=559363&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=sps&&start=0

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-5497703-sps.html#5497703

I've just ordered the SPS from www.oasisupply.com! Leah... you caught another one!!! If anyone buys from this site, look in the product catagory list on the left, under clearance/close outs, there is an item for $2 off your order of $75 or more... its not a big discount, but hey, $2 covers the cost of one of the plates!!!

I couldn't find the square sps plates on that site though... either I was over looking them, or i'll have to look elsewhere for them.

Thanks for the links, I'm so computer illerate I'm not sure how to do searches or add atachments, then the added bonus my DH flips out if I try to order online. So Seriously, pretened you are talking to a 5 yr. old. SPS are the plates that lock into the lower layer? Sounds better than the wooden stick thing I've been using. Do ypu transport on the plates and then assemble on site? May have to sneak an online order in somehow

Well, I've looked at that website & I wouldn't say I'm computer illiterate, but since I've never used the sps before...I'm sps illiterate!! I have no idea WHAT I need to order & the descriptions they use on the site are no help...some of them don't even have pictures. ARGHHH

O.K. I don't know either!! If I knew what it stood for I could research further. I am sooooo out of the loop. DD is going to slay me when she turns 14.

SPS = Single Plate Separator or Single Plate System. It's made by BarkeryCrafts. They only sell wholesale, so if you don't have a tax ID, then you're gong to have to order retail from Oasis supply.

There are columns of varying heights and plates of varying shapes. For stacked cakes I use the GC-4S coumn (leg) that jams very securely into the plate. I bake, torte, fill and frost my cakes so that they come out to 4", or close enough. That way I never have to cut the legs.

If Oasis doens't stock the square plates, don't worry--just use a round plate under a square cake. I did that for years before BakeryCrafts started making the square plates.

I'll post the detailed instructions for use in the next post.

And yes you really can travel with a cake already stacked and decorated--as much as you can lift.

SPS offers several different heights of legs. I use the GC-4s which is four inches tall. I bake my cake so that I can torte them (with my Agbay) to 7/8" tall, and with filling (4 layers cake + filling) all my tiers are 4" tall. That way I don't have to cut the legs. It is possible to cut the legs, but it's best to keep it simple and bake to height.

To make this easy to visualize, let's pretend you're doing a 6/10/14 tiered cake. Prepare your 14" cake on its base board as always. Take the 10 inch plate that has a little peg in the center of it and use the peg to poke a hole in a 10" cardboard. Use a skewer to slightly enlarge the hole in the cardboard. I always remove the collars from the underside of the plate and throw them away. That will make more sense when you have the plate in your hands. Use the ten inch plate to mark the top of the 14" cake for placement (centered) just like any other system. Next, jam the legs into the plate. They fit really tight. Now, push the plate and leg assembly into the 14" cake.

Place the 10" cake on the cardboard with the hole and prepare/decorate as usual. Use the 6" plate to punch a hole in a 6" cardboard and enlarge the hole slightly. Use the 6" plate to mark the top of the 10" cake. Jam the legs into the 6" plate and push the plate assembly into the 10" cake.

Put the 6" cake on the 6" cardboard and prepare/decorate as usual.

Now for assembly.

You should be looking at two cakes that have plates on their tops. Pick up the 10" cake with your hand or spatula, whichever is more comfortable for you. Place the far side of the cake board anywhere past the peg on the "receiving" 10" plate (which is sitting on the 14" cake.) Sliiiiiiide it into place, which means get the hole in the cardboard onto the peg. You'll hear a satisfying little whoosh. Repeat with the 6" cake.

Cautions: Always poke a hole in the cardboards first. You'll only forget that step once.

If you have put your plate and leg assemblies in centered, then you cake will be centered.

Always push the plate and leg assemblies into the cake before you stack them. The pushing can sometimes cause a blowout when the cake is already partially stacked.

You can carry a stacked cake easily, assuming that you can lift it. I have carried a four tier completely stacked. Went in the back of my SUV, through the back hall at the venue, up the freight elevator and down the hall and into the room. No problem, although we were really ready to put it down.

It's better to bake to the height of the legs. The legs aren't the easiest to cut (because they're sturdy) but you can cut them with a saw. Band saw or chop saws work best. Really, just make the cake 4" tall.

To make a cake with separations, just use taller legs. The legs come in 9" lengths and a multi-piece leg that can be 5", 7" or 9" depending on the number of extensions you use. You push the legs down thru the cake, creating air space/separation between the tiers. No plate will be sitting on top of the cake.

This system was developed for bakeries that don't offer delivery. It's made for consumers with no experience moving cakes, so you guys should be fine!!!

ooooops sorry double post

Oh I LOVE mine!!!!! I transported a 14, 10 6 just this morning (well actually twice) and it NEVER moved !!!!!! down steep hills around very heavy curves and STOPS

LOVED IT!!!

Will be purchasing the SFS soon!!! That will be the best 180.00 purchase I have ever made!!! (Well besides my agbay and my KA )

Christi,
If you love SPS why are you planning to purchase SFS?

I just don't get that at all.

Well isn't it supposed to be even better? That way I wouldn't have to keep buying everything would I? I would just charge a deposit....I dunno.....maybe I'm a little dense lol

Ok so Im very knowledgeable about the SPS. Why is it so expensive when it sounds like the cake plates with legs that snap that wilton uses? Im confused and what is SFS?

Angela the SPS isn't expensive at all...and the thing about the SPS is the legs DONT slip out at all...and the plates have a nub that goes into your cake board...very sturdy!

HTH's


Christi

SPS is plastic, meant to be disposable. If your cakes are 4" tall, then you don't have to cut anything. And as Christi says the legs fit securely into the plates, and the plates have a nub that grabs the cardboard underneath the cake above. It just all ties together, like good construction should. It's actually cheaper, much sturdier and easier to use than the Wilton version. I found that the Wilton hidden pillars just don't fit into the plates securely. And you have to cut them. As I always say about SPS, easy, sturdy, cheap. What more could you ask for?

SFS = Stress Fress System. A metal ring and leg system, very sturdy and uber expensive. I'd rather charge my $20 equipment fee, let the customer throw away the SPS and move on to the next cake. With SFS you have to get a deposit and then get the customer to return your system to you. It's just a hassle I don't need, when the cheap, disposable system works really, really well.

OMG this is great info. Thank you all so much for the help and advice. My DH freaks everytime we have to deliver a stacked cake after my wedding cake debocle, I think this will ease both our minds. I'd rather not have to do any cutting so will try to get the cakes to the exact height. You guys are the best!! Even cutting the wooden dowles is a pain for me, I never get the height right on the first cut, then I have to pull it out of the cake, etc this sounds soooo much better.

Sue

I ment to say IM NOT VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE about the sps system.. DOH

I'm very interested in getting the sps system but am having trouble finding it on the oasis site. I'm making a cake that is 6 layers of 6" cake and think that this system is just the thing to keep my cake standing. What would I need to purchase for this cake? I have never had very much luck with dowels.

Thanks
Pauletta

It's on the Oasis site really. Choose Your Special Day, subcategory Wedding, subcategory Plate, Pillar, Dividers. The SPS stuff, Called BakeryCrafsts starts on page 4.

Out of curiosity, why are you making a cake that 6" tall per tier and six tiers tall? That's an engineering nightmare. I'm short, so I wouldn't be able to reach the top tier to put it on. And that must be a seriously tall bride, for that tall a cake to look proportional next to her! Also, since most caterers expect the cake to be 4" tall they bring dessert plates to put the cake on. Your cake slices may fall off the edge of the plate. If I was the caterer, I'd be mumbling under my breath at you. On the other hand, if its what your customer requested . . .

I think what she means to say is she is doing a 6" round cake in 6 layers ...like maybe stacking two 6" cakes then two more than two more...

Sorry, I don't think I made things too clear. I have six- 6 inch x 1 1/2 inch cakes that will be stacked on top of each other. Total height will be about 9 to 10 inches. I am going to try to make a golf bag cake. I'm having a nightmare about stacking these cakes - don't think I want to try anything any higher right now.

Pauletta

Ahh . . . You will likely need to use a sharpened dowel and spike the cake.

Would I need to spike the cake with a dowel even if I use the sps system?

NO not if you use the SPS system, the plates are a hard plastic....with 4 legs.


But I don't know if you would really need the sps for that .....

Do it like this ..... since you r doing the 6 inch cakes use 4 dowells (um thicker then skewers but not real thick dont know the size) cut them to just above your icing. then drive a long dowell through the entire thing. (sharpened of course)


This is the way I would do it. Oh yes....you wouldn't need to dowel but once. Stack 3 of your six inch cakes then dowell.

HTH's

Christi

Thank you, thank you Christi. I will try that. I'm not sure I would have had time to
order the sps system for this cake anyway but I am going to look into trying this system. I only do cakes for family and firends now but I want them to look good and not fall down. And who knows, I may start doing cakes for $$ someday.

Also, thanks leahs, I finally found the SPS on oaisis. I can't wait to try it!


Pauletta

I need to try this. I am always so stressed when traveling with a big cake so maybe this would help with that.
Amycake

Thank you Leahs for the detailed instructions on the SPS system.