I am doing a 12", 10", 8" sqare wedding cake for this Friday. The tiers are to be stacked buttercream icing with fondant "ribbon" up all four sides and a curly fondant bow at the top. Should I do the ribbon on each tier separately transport and then assemble on site or dowel the whole thing and transport completed?

If you assemble onsite, then you pretty much need to pur the ribbon on onsite as well.

Of course, I'd encourage you to place an order for SPS *today* to try to get it in in time.

This is just my opinion but from my disaster experience, I would say.......DONT TRAVEL WITH AN ASSEMBLED CAKE!!!! I did just one time and it fell, I did everything right, but it fell anyways. That is just my opinion, but I know I have read on CC that alot of people do transport assembled, but after that one time. I do not anymore. And I also started using SPS because it is so much more stable than dowels!!! Hope this helps. Good Luck!

definitely get sps regardless of what you decide to do........if you don't want to travel with it assembled, can you try to make your bow and ribbon out of gumpaste and make it on the same sized square dummies and then transport the dummies with the bow assembled (to keep it sturdy) and then transfer that to the cake once you're there and you assemble?? Although, you should be able to keep the fondant wrapped really well keeping it pliable and have it all ready to unroll down the edge of the cakes.

With careful doweling and driving you could deliver this completely assembled. It depends on how far you have to go and what kind of roads and driver you are
If you don't have/can't get SPS you can do something similar w/Wilton's stuff (shutter!) I'm only suggesting this because of the time element on maybe not being able to get SPS and Wilton is so generally available.
Get the 'hidden pillars' - 4" tall hollow plastic tubes that the plate feet will fit into. The plate should be the same size as the cake or even better one 1" smaller. You would only need one plate & four posts for the middle tier (10"). The 6"er really doesn't need more than straws for support & a cakeboard.
This set up will be similar to the SPS allowing you to transport completely put together.

you can do it assembled but with it being butter cream....be careful....i transported the one in my pics with the red ribbon around each tier and bow on top fully complete this past weekend.....it's covered in fondant....my DH drove and I held the top tier with fondant smoothers the entire way...1 hour drive on winding roads....it was stressful but we made it....i'm certain the top would have fallen had I not held on to it...if it were buttercream i could not have held it .....Good Luck!

I deliver stacked, never thought of not doing it that way.

I use an american buttercream that sets very firm in the fridge, so what i do is refrigerate the cake, and use some butter cream to glue the layers together. Drive as carefully as possible trying to advoid as many pot holes as is humanly possible. So far i have had good results. The only time i had a cake slip on me is when it was a whipped cream type frosting that softened quickly.

I use the stress-free support system (stainless steel rings with plastic legs) and recently transported a five-tier fondant covered cake with no problems. I also put a center dowel through the bottom three tiers, and another dowel through all five tiers that I removed when I got to the venue. I've also transported a four-tier buttercream cake -- it didn't budge. The expenditure for that system has paid for itself ten times over in terms of stress-free deliveries.

I'm definitely getting the point about the sps! Unfortunately I don't think I have enough time to order it for this one. Does anyone have the link for this??? On the plus side, it is only a 15 minute drive on fairly decent roads. I just don't know how I could do the "ribbon" onsite if I transport not assembled. Wouldn't I have to roll it out and cut it there? I was thinking I could do each tier separately but then the tiers wouldn't stack level (ribbon). Now I'm getting nervous...

you wouldn't necessarily have to roll and cut the fondant on site........why couldn't you roll and cut it out before you leave and then roll it up with a dusting of powdered sugar and cover it well and then when you assemble on site unroll it down the side of the cake and just have the bow premade and ready to go, obviously you'd want to bring extra fondant and a rolling pin, cutter, and cutting board just in case something happens but you should be able to do it.
A while ago there was a thread on here where someone did just that with a cake and it worked great! she had pictures of the cake and everything and it was gorgeous......maybe I can find the cake photo and direct you to the person!

So after I roll and cut the ribbon the lenghth I need, I just dust with powdered sugar and roll it up on itself and seal in a plastic bag? That would save me the stress of transporting stacked and worrying that the fondant would slip...which has happened to me before.

I cut ribbons, don't dust with anything (that will make for more problems) and roll it up on heavy duty vinyl purchased from the fabric department and cut into strips. Then unroll and place on the cake at the venue. Same process for swags. The key is using heavy duty vinyl.

I guess you don't have to dust, I've just never had luck with fondant ribbon without dusting...it always winds up sticking to itself and I can't unroll it. Make sure if you DO dust it that you bring yourself a pastry brush so you can brush off any excess ps once it's on the cake......or if you're wanting to dust with luster dust.

KHalstead, if you roll it up WITH the vinyl, there's no problem. Think of a cinnamon roll. The cake is the vinyl and the fondant ribbon is the cinnamon.

Thanks leahs! I already have the heavy duty vinyl as I use it to roll my big pieces of fondant. I'll give it a test run tomorrow while I am frosting.

I travel with all my cakes stacked using either bubble tea straws with a center dowel or the stress free system.

Good luck!

I ended up transporting fully assembled and glad I did. The middle layer shifted just a touch but it was very minor. Whew...so glad that's over! I've already posted the picture:

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1293860&done=1

Thanks everyone!!!

Nice job Glad to hear you took it assembled
How did you support it? Let us all know what worked for uyou.

I used the hidden pilars to support the middle layer and a cake plate for the top. It wasn't the best, but I only had to drive 20 minutes. The middle layer squished a bit but that is my own fault. I have a tendency to put too much frosting inbetween...really need to stop doing that.