I am making my sister in laws wedding cake and i need everyones advice. Shes not getting married til late afternoon but with everything else going on we will only have about 10-15 min to set the cake up and cant get into the hall til mid afternoon so this doesnt help oh yeah im in the wedding as well so this puts a time crunch on things my question is would it look ok if i put silk flowers on the cake instead of gumpaste/fondant? Its a 5 teir 8, 10,12,14,&16 with basket weave on all layers so that alone it going to take quite a while. Im getting very stressed out not sure what to do oh im also making my sons bday cake at the same time...anyone have any advice on what i should do? Please help thank you also th ehall is 40 minutes away so have to get the cake there in one piece.

Wow that's a big cake....290 servings, whew! I know what leahs would tell you....get SPS to stack that baby.

If you don't have time to make flowers, you could always order some gumpaste one's on-line. Personally I don't care for silk flowers although some of them are pretty real looking nowadays.

Because of the size and weight of this cake I would deliver it in 2 sections....the 2 large bottom tiers separate from the top 3 tiers. That will be a very heavy cake if you try to deliver the entire thing fully assembled.

Basket weave will be time consuming, but you could definitely get that all finished the day before.

Bake and freeze if you have to, just wrap all the layers really well in plastic and aluminum foil.

Good luck, I'm sort of in the same boat for my nieces wedding in October. The ceremony is at 10 in the morning, the hall is 1 hr away and won't let me deliver until 9 a.m. I'm doing all the girls hair and make-up since I'm a hairstylist too and I'm doing a reading at the church.

Oh and the cake is a huge elaborate castle that will take me at least an hour to assemble. I have NO idea how I'm gonna pull it off, but I have a couple of months to worry about it.

Don't you wonder sometimes why we get ourselves into these situations?

Why don't you talk her into ribbon around each tier. Your logistics are not looking favorable especially if you're already freaking out.
That's a big cake huh.

10-15 mins--you're really stretching yourself.

How comfortable are you with fondant and you could get a basket weave fondant rolling pin--if you have any experience with fondant --that's an option for you to save time maybe for you. Then cut the joins at an angle just cover the joins with some flowers streaming down.

A save time thought for you, CakeBuddy.

I don't think silk flowers are particularly clean but...shoot go for it!

I agree not a big fan of silk flowers...I am daring, so I would stack that baby up in one piece, and deliver it that way. It will be heavy, but I would rather strain myself, than stress myself! I would look into pre-made gum paste or pastiage(sp) flowers. I use them quite often, and I put them on buttercream, fondant, and put them in the fridge, and NEVER have a problem with them. There is a site www. wholesale sugar flowers . com (of course all one word....didn't want it to get blocked) they have cake kits, plain white, and I think are pretty reasonable. Just a thought...Hope that helps!

The silk dealios that are all on one big string like 6 feet long...hint hint..easy peasiest...wrap & go.

No current plans but if I am I will let you know!!!
And get the mimosas flowing!!!!!!!!

Thank you Dkelly. I told her it would serve 290 but thats the 1x2" peices and she said she doesn twant little pieces she wants big cake size pieces for everyone. Ok I am new to the lingo but what is SPS? I am really going to take it down in 2 pieces and told her that its going to take time so we talked again and we are going to make it less decorated but put enough flowers onto to give it some design and she loves the flowers i have done already so i only have a few to go. it all has to be buttercream and the flowers i have gumpaste and fondant but she does not want the cake covered in fondant she hates the taste of it...any more ideas on how to get the frosting not to stick to the boards between layers is greatly appreaciated...Thanks again

I personally don't like to use inedible flowers on cakes. I'd start making them now if I can.

As for the frosting sticking to the boards... I'd let it crust, sprinkle with powered sugar, lay wax paper and stack.