The thread about keeping decorated cakes cool made me think about this question...What tips and tricks do people use to deliver cakes in the heat?
I usually just crank up the AC in the car and I've never had a problem, but my paranoid mind always thinks about the possibility of getting pulled over by the police and having to sit in a hot car while they write me a ticket. Or getting in an accident and having the car heat up...I'm thinking of making some boxes that are insulated so that I don't worry about the cakes getting hot in the car during delivery, so if anyone has done that and has tips on how to make them I'd appreciate it.
I place the cakes on one of my 18x26 baking sheet, on a non-skid mat (pics are on my flickr site). I can transport a 3 tier cake, unassembled, on one baking sheet, making it easy to carry the whole cake in one trip.
I never pre-cool the van .... I rarely run the air conditioner in the van (I prefer real air). I would be curious as to what kind of cakes are being made that they start to disintegrate after 5 minutes in a car? 
I had to deliver a wedding cake last weekend. 90+, the event was a good 45 minutes from home and it was an outdoor wedding. I got there and ... no tables yet so I had to leave the van running. After waiting for 30 minutes, I gave up and took the cakes out anyway. Thank goodness I had used indydebi's buttercream and all was well!
I think your idea about insulated boxes is great. Post what you do and how they work. I have to worry about heat at least 6 months out of the year, so I would love to have something that I know is going to work. 
Debi-- Nothing's disintegrated yet, but as I said, I'm paranoid. I have visions of being pulled over (not that I've ever been pulled over, but there's always a first time) and having the police officer tell me to turn off the car. It's just my fertile imagination thinking up disaster scenarios.
I think I will make some boxes, though, sometimes I have back-to-back deliveries that have one cake in the car for over an hour before it gets to its destination, so it would be good to be able to bring more than one at a time without waiting for them to soften up and slide away.
I would be curious as to what kind of cakes are being made that they start to disintegrate after 5 minutes in a car?
The problem's not so much five minutes in the car as an hour and a half in the car.... Also, I use SMBC, and that can start to melt pretty quick. I haven't had a cake collapse yet, fortunately, but I've only had three deliveries of large cakes, anyway, to family and friends.
On the one that I had to take an hour and a half, I used a non-skid shelf liner pad and put some freezer packs, the kind you can re-use, in the back with the cake. I don't know if it was necessary, but I felt better about it, anyway, and the only damage was that the tassels fell off the corners when I hit an unexpected pothole...
I too have summertime worries, having clients who mostly want butter-cream (which is largely made of butter). Once it gets over 72, I worry. It's ok at the venue, but tricky to transport.
I'm working on building an insulated box for my largest tiers (one I can slip those freezer-gel things into the sides of). I am also making covers for my regular cake boxes (which are windowed) made out of the reflective material used to line winter-time drapes. That will cut down on solar warming.
When/if I make it, I will post pictures.
I tested a cake inside a regular corrugated moving box on my side porch in full sun at noon for an hour with freezer packs--worked beautifully. I know which sizes fit through my doors and stuff.
I was gonna get all creative and insulate several boxes with newspaper--great insulation material-- then cover that with a plastic tablecloth from the dollar store but after my test I realized it was not necessary.
All butter icing fades fast in heat and humidity and ever the more so if the sun hits it.
I put a paper towel around the freezer pack to catch condensation and slide that into a plastic bag and close it up and wire it into the corners of the box. I seal the box shut with tape. I could get in a traffic jam for hours and the cake be ok without the air on. I don't have to freak out about cooling the car off & stuff.
I mean everytime you open the door you get the change in temp. The humidity down here is a factor. The plain old corrugated sealed box does great for me. It helps with delivery too. I can hug it (the box) if need be to deliver.
I would be curious as to what kind of cakes are being made that they start to disintegrate after 5 minutes in a car?
When I used to use Wilton's recipe, there were several times that I was sitting with a small cake in the front seat beside me and I'd be 10 minutes away from the house and look over and see the sides falling off the cake. That was without air conditioning in the car though.
I tested a cake inside a regular corrugated moving box on my side porch in full sun at noon for an hour with freezer packs--worked beautifully. I know which sizes fit through my doors and stuff.
I put a paper towel around the freezer pack to catch condensation and slide that into a plastic bag and close it up and wire it into the corners of the box. I seal the box shut with tape. I could get in a traffic jam for hours and the cake be ok without the air on. I don't have to freak out about cooling the car off & stuff.
I mean everytime you open the door you get the change in temp. The humidity down here is a factor. The plain old corrugated sealed box does great for me. It helps with delivery too. I can hug it (the box) if need be to deliver.
Thanks, k8!
Mine is just a box-- 18x18x18 fit in the side door of my car without tipping it. I could deliver four 3- tier cakes in my vehicle--plus stuff the trunk with groom's cakes & falderal.
I get the boxes either at the Storage place right by my house or at the U-Haul place--It's just a moving box--a shipping box --just a regular corrugated box.
I think I do have a picture though come to think of it...brb...
Tra-la-la-la I found it!!
If you click on it it gets bigger.
edited to say--see the little blue ice dudes in the back corners?
Where can you get the non-skid foam or mat?
Where can you get the non-skid foam or mat?
Probably in your cupboard--that's my favorite place to harvest it--under the glasses!
It's the nubbly shelf liner you can get at the grocery store or k-mart, walmart, etc.
oh, is that what you use? I thought It was the foam stuff that you find in packages???
and I don't have any of that in my cabinets....but i know where to find it!!!
oh, is that what you use? I thought It was the foam stuff that you find in packages???
and I don't have any of that in my cabinets....but i know where to find it!!!
Yeah it was bad. There's these strange holes in my shelf liner--if you're in the neighborhood with a pair of scissors, stop by!!! 
I mean that's what I use anyhow.
The pilates/yoga mats, the cheap ones, are made from the same material as the shelf liners.
I rarely get a summer wedding, but if I do, I chill the cake for a day before I deliver. I always deliver at least 2 hours prior to the reception start time so the cake comes to room temp. It happens pretty quickly since it is so hot and humid.
What about a Mousse Cake with mirror glaze? How would I be able to transport that?
same way or if it's small you could put it in a cooler
Thank you. I'll try and let everyone know. This is the mousse cake with mirror glaze
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