Hi there! I'm just starting with cake decorating. I've done my oldest son's birthday cakes (so that makes a whopping 3 cakes total!), but I'm taking the Wilton classes and I'm really excited about what I'm going to learn. My brother and his soon to be fiancee have an unofficial wedding date of December 26th! I will most likely be doing their cake. It's a small wedding - about 35 people, just local family and a few close friends, very low-key. I of course don't want to screw up the wedding cake! I live about 2 1/2 hours away and won't be getting into town (where the wedding will be held) until the day before - Christmas Day. I plan to do a couple of "dry runs" of their cake before then of course. What can I do ahead of time (and how far ahead) and how do I transport it, etc.? Any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated! I'm a bit nervous but also REALLY EXCITED!

I would personally feel far more comfortable working in my own kitchen than in someone else's for something as specific as decorating. If you're driving, you could conceivably finish the whole entire cake (I know it's for a small party, but you still might want to make something a little bigger just because it's a wedding cake, I'm not sure what your thoughts are thus far) and just assemble it there. Especially if you're just coming into town the day before, your timing as far as baking and ingredients should be just fine to hold for an extra day (just avoid perishable fillings and such!). HTH ... good luck and congratulations on your son's wedding!

-Emi.

So you think I could transport the finished cake in the car? Oh and it's for my brother's upcoming wedding, not my son - my boys are 3 years old and 8 months! Too young for marriage! How much cake would I need for a wedding of approximately 35 people? I would like to give them a top tier to save if possible. The bride was just going to make the cake herself (it's a real low key event), before I offered to do it for her. How do you assemble a cake? When do you need to use dowels, etc? I'm a real newbie so any thoughts you have would be great!

Will you be able to do all the Wilton courses before the wedding - Course 3 covers tiered cakes. Also, if you have time and can do it, also take the fondant and gumpaste course. You will learn so much. You can come up with some really super nice tiered cakes after course 3. You will learn a lot of flowers and brush embroidery. Start looking through the galleries here for ideas. I think the simplest cakes are the prettiest - but then I don't like a lot of extra stuff! BTW Welcome to CC!!!!

Oh, for transporting, buy that nonslip shelf liner stuff to put under the cake. Also, when you take Course 3, you will be taught how to do a center dowel all the way through how ever many tiers you have. If you put your cake on foam core, you can sink that dowel all the way into the board and that will help make it safe for transport - that and no lead foot!!!! :0)

I should have completed the first 3 courses. If September is course one, and October is course 2, I'm assuming November is course 3! I also signed up for a local community class (before I knew about the Wilton classes) that's 2 nights and teaches how to do flowers, etc. So I'm hoping that I'll have quite a few techniques under my belt. And the bride is keeping things really lowkey - only 35 people at the wedding, no tuxes, at her aunt's house, etc. She was going to make the cake herself before I offered! I think she'd prefer something fairly simple. I'm going to send her some ideas of cake I think I could duplicate and I plan to practice, practice, practice! Thanks for all your help!

Oops! Sorry, you had it right there in your post about it being your brother, but I just remembered the "son" comment ... yeah, if it's not a terribly big cake, you can absolutely transport it in your car with a careful driver (and the non-skid mat that was already suggested). Definitely do a few trial runs beforehand so you know what to expect! Good luck!

-Emi.