A question for you pros out there...I generally like to deliver my cakes fully assembled but they obviously get heavy when done this way. Is it bad form to ask someone at the venue to help you carry in a cake or do I need to bring along a second person for delivery? What do you all do in this situation? I know that I could bring a cart but sometimes you have stairs or uneven surfaces to deal with and just have to hand carry.

Another question...does anyone have a rule of thumb about how big a cake is before it requires a second person to help carry it? Say, a 100 serving fondant covered cake, would that require 2 people?

Thanks!

I always assemble mine on site. Takes a lot of worry and hassle out of the delivery. But that's just me. I am sure some other will give you better answers.

Enjoy your day!

I usually take mine assembled and my hubby or a friend comes along to help out.

It depends on how much you can carry. We all have different strengths. I can sure carry a 50 pound cake but I know my mother can't.

I don't sell cakes but I would suggest you bring an extra person with you if you don't think you can do it by yourself.

Good luck.

my husband usually helps me out when i make wedding or anniversary cake,etc.. i have asked someone at the site.. but i usually know them.. hth

yes i do bring smeone if the cake is over 4 tiers tall.

DH is always with me. And on the very odd occasion that he can't be there, then yes, I sometimes ask someone at the venue for help. Or I assemble on site.

The vast majority of our cakes are delivered fully assembled and by 1 person. We have a couple of different rolling carts that we use for delivering big cakes. We have a nice stainless steel NSF kitchen cart but we also use one of these collapsible carts when we are tight on delivery vehicle space:

http://www.globalindustrial.com/gcs/prod/30047519/i/1/productInfo.web?a=30047519&c=912110

It's easy to use, folds relatively flat, and supports 350 lbs. Carts make delivering bigger cakes much easier!

Best of luck!

Hubby always delivers with me when he's available. If I need help from someone at the venue, I make those arrangements ahead of time.

My husband usually goes with me to deliver any size cake. I appreciate him. If he wasn't available I would need to ask for help.

-Debbie B.

Thanks for all your answers, unfortunately DH works Saturdays so I guess I'd have to ask a friend to come along and perhaps split the delivery fee with her...can't wait till my son gets big enough to help mom with delivery, he's 11 and that will be useful in a few years. I could deliver some of my cakes unassembled but it seems that almost all the cakes I have this summer are the type that you can't deliver not assembled...one has a tree branch going up the entire side, for example. I suppose if I get in a real bind I can ask one of the venue staff to help but I don't really want to rely on that you know! I'll call ahead, I am getting to know some of the venue staff around here which is great.

I also like to take pictures of my cakes in a "controlled" environment, which means assembling them completely.

Thanks again all!

Once in awhile my dh helps but its hard because we have four kids, and everybody AND cake doesn't really fit in the minivan. And its hard to find babysitting. But occasionally we will find a sitter or something. But usually I either send him, or I do it. If its a self contained cake that is very sturdy and not too heavy, he does it. He did a heavy wedding cake for me a few weeks ago but he accidentally stuck his thumb in it REALLY bad and then tried to fix the scrolling for me and that didn't work at all...so he said he's never doing another wedding delivery. haha. So I just do them, try to assemble on site. The seven tier one I just delivered, I brought it in three pieces...I had the borders on and everything, and just lifted each piece with spatula and stacked them. Of course the dummies in the middle section helped.

I work at a country club and occasionally someone delivers a cake and asks the kitchen staff to carry it in. Usually this happens when the cake has been made by a non-pro, a MIL or whatever. We happily assist and think nothing of it!

Depends on the cake. The cascading satellite cake are really big right now around here, so I can deliver those on my own - no problems.

On some of the bigg tiered ones, I've had my dad and/or sis help. (No DH - yet My bro has also stepped in to help.

I always love and extra pair of hands daughter or friend goes with me.

If I can't lift it myself, then I assemble it when I get to the venue.

Except for next week .....

I have a 5 tier fully fondanted cake that will look like her wedding dress (Pray for me folks! ) and hubby is going with me since I obviously can't assemble it there and I cant lift a 5-tier cake myself.

I also have a cart of sorts ... it's a hand truck that I can stand upright (like when you move a refrigerator) or it converts to a flatbed. I keep a piece of plywood in the van and lay it on the cart/flatbed for added surface space.

If it is too heavy or awkward for me, I'll bring someone to help. Sometimes I just take one of my daughters (ages 5 and 6) to help hold the door.

I deliver most of my cakes fully assembled, by myself - my husband has always needed to be home with our children, but now that they are older, he does other things around the house on weekends!

I do have a question though - I have always been nervous about assembling onsite - I am worried about getting the icing ruined with my fingers when I am placing the tiers. How do you place you tiers on top of each other so that your fingers don't scrape the icing? A previous poster mentioned a spatula. I'm mostly self-taught, but in any courses that I have taken, there has been no mention of this little trick!

I can lift and move cakes up to 180 servings. Anythong over that I take an employee. I have used both guys and girls....a HS or college student usually. I have a couple of experienced young guys who thinks it is cool to work several hours and get paid to help move 5 - 9 cakes on a Saturday.

I personally wouldn't want to ask a venue employee to move a cake...they are busy and I worry about liability if they would cause a problem.

I agree with classiccake and debi about helping. cart or door, hit the elevator button, don't touch the cake!!!

I'm pretty strong. I can carry pretty much anything. People (customers) ask me how I deliver my cakes sometimes and who comes along, and I'll say, I'm really strong. And they laugh. But it;s not funny! I AM strong. I workout 5 days a week and can kick some butt, roll out 40 pounds of fondant, and then carry your big cake up a flight of stairs to the table!

marmalade 1687 wrote:
"I do have a question though - I have always been nervous about assembling onsite - I am worried about getting the icing ruined with my fingers when I am placing the tiers. How do you place you tiers on top of each other so that your fingers don't scrape the icing? A previous poster mentioned a spatula. I'm mostly self-taught, but in any courses that I have taken, there has been no mention of this little trick!"

I am afraid to transport assembled ( and I also do not have the strenght to carry 40 lbs.), so I assemble on site. Granted I am a very unskilled baker, but I always leave my dowels sticking up about an inch. They are all level, and when I place the above tier on, it just all magically sinks into place. This lets me get my fingers (or hubby's) out of the way without much problem. This works for me.

Ah, thanks Havingfun!! I never thought of that! I'll try that when I'm assembling this week.

I can lift a 3-tier by myself, but I have trouble with the 4 and up tiers. I don't do many of these, but I starting to get more orders for them. That's why I asked about assembling on site. I have assembled two fondant cakes on site with no problems, but I'm still nervous about the buttercream.

I also don't let venue staff touch/lift the cake - they sometimes help by opening doors or getting a cart (I push the cart too), but I do everything else.

I assemble all my three tier and smaller cakes before hand. Even done a couple of four tierd and yes they get heavy. I bring my DH along with me because 1) he is pretty strong and 2) I can open doors for him, get little kids out of the way and stop the MIL's who are there who "want to help".

We have a carlisle folding cart, which will hold about 200 lbs per shelf. Best investment I ever made. It folds very flat, we bungie it flat to the seats of the back of the van, so its out of the way, takes up very little room and is easy to just pop open! Even has locking wheels.

My poor DH had to carry a 4 tier fondant covered cake across a field once for a big outdoor wedding. That was about the hardest one we ever did. Most of the time the cake goes from the back of the van, to the cart, to the table, off the cart. Very little carrying.