Need Advice For Doing A Cake Away From Home

Decorating By lmpedersen Updated 24 Sep 2009 , 8:17pm by lmpedersen

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lmpedersen Posted 24 Sep 2009 , 7:38pm
post #1 of 6

I'm flying to WA an Saturday to help my parents out. My dad has alzheimers and is in a care facility. My mom had to move to a smaller house to help afford the care for my dad.

Anyway, she gave away a lot of her stuff when she moved, such as her KA stand mixer. When I made a cake up there last year, I had to go buy a 13 x9 pan in order to make the cake. She does have a KA hand mixer.

My sister's 40th birthday is coming up, so I'm planning to make her a cake while I'm there. She wants chocolate cake and frosting and fall colors. One of her nick names as a kid was Boo. The other one was Duck. What I have been thinking is doing a tiered cake, maybe 6" and 8" or 6" and 10", with small pumpkins and a ghost on top and fall colored leaves or flowers going down the tiers. Maybe even sneak a duck in there somewhere. If anyone has any suggestions on what would look best, or other ideas, I would love to hear them!

I'm also trying to make a list of what I need to ship up there as far as tools. Here's my list so far. What am I forgetting?

Cake pans
Rotating cake stand
Food coloring
Piping bags
Piping tips
Offset spatulas
Fondant for pumpkins, ghost and duck

There should still be flavor extracts from the last time I made a cake and she has a nice knife set. I was planning to buy a cheap base and cardboard rounds and leaves/flowers up there. I don't really have any special tools for shaping the fondant. Do I need any for what I'm planning? I've had the first 3 Wilton classes, but they came out with the fondant and gumpaste class later and I haven't been back for that one.

Any suggestions?

5 replies
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mmgiles Posted 24 Sep 2009 , 7:45pm
post #2 of 6

Ok, this is an idea (probably a bad one) but what about the bottom tier blue, with yellow duckies, like rubber duckies, and then the top tier orange with black ghosts? Kind of mix of two holidays. Ok, it seems dumb, but I can picture it.

If you're doing the decorations from fondant, I'd make them ahead of time and dry then, then ship them already made. The less tools and work space needed, the better.

Dont forget to take dowels.

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lmpedersen Posted 24 Sep 2009 , 7:56pm
post #3 of 6

Thank you! icon_smile.gif I'll buy the dowels up there too. (It's a 1 hour drive to anywhere that would have them here.) Putting them on my list.

She wants the chocolate frosting and I'm only planning to do the pumpkins, ghost and duck in fondant. I won't be covering the cake with fondant, but I will consider that idea if I change my mind. I'm still really open to all ideas and the party won't be until Oct. 17, so I have time to really consider various ideas.

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cheeseball Posted 24 Sep 2009 , 8:04pm
post #4 of 6

I was thinking more along the lines of the basic stuff we take for granted, but not everyone has (especially since a lot of stuff was given away), like rubber spatulas and measuring spoons (how can people not have these things?!? icon_lol.gif )

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bubblywhitewine Posted 24 Sep 2009 , 8:08pm
post #5 of 6

I traveled from MO to CT to make a wedding cake for my niece. The only thing that my sister-in-law had was a mixer. I had to take everything else.
I had to made another cake before I left so I started making a list of everything I used as I used them. Then I went over the list and decided what to take and what to buy when I got there. I also used this list to pack my items that I would need in CT. It worked out great, I didn't forget anything.
It was also cheaper to pack these items in another suitcase and pay the $25 fee for a second checked bag then it was to ship my items.

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lmpedersen Posted 24 Sep 2009 , 8:17pm
post #6 of 6

Thank you. She does have measuring spoons. I think she has spatulas, but that might be a good one to add to the list.

I had considered packing stuff in a suitcase since Southwest doesn't charge for checked bags, but I will be flying alone with my 4 year old, so the less stuff I have to lug around at the airport, the better.

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