I am doing a cake for about 400 that will be my gift to the family. My plan was to have a nice three tired cake and sheet cakes in the back. I was just informed that the hall will not let anyone in to decorate or set up until a half an hour before.My problem is the cake that I am doing requires a lot of decorating once it is stacked. I have draping fondant that will have to be dusted gold, on top of stacking, putting on a border and the rest of the decorations. I am a very slow decorator and I know I can not get this done in half an hour. In the past I had a bad experience transporting an already stacked cake so I didn't really want to do this. I was wondering if I made the bottom tier a dummy would this act almost like a second base to the two others? Would this be like trasporting just a two layer cake and be more stable? I am not worried about the servings since I was making more than enough. Has anyone ever done this and give me some tips? Thanks!

Anyone??????

Yes, I do it frequently. You'll be fine.

Have you considered using the SPS system? I just transported my 1st 5 tier cake completely stacked & it was wonderful. The only thing it was extremely heavy & had to have to strong men do it for me, they were more nervous than I was but I had the faith in the SPS (thanks leahs). I would do it again.

I have done this many times before so you should be fine. My only suggestion would be to make sure you have the dummy cake on there securely. The cakes on top make it top heavy. The last time I was delivering one I apparently didn't secure the dummy properly and it started sliding around the cake board. Luckily there was no damage to the cake, but it sure scared me to death to have it start sliding around while I was on my way to deliver it.

I don't want to hijack this thread but as a side question. Do you still need to put supports into the styrofoam? I wouldn't think it would buckle at all but I'm curious...

Thanks