Hi,

I'm making a snowboarding/mountain cake for my nephew's bar mitzvah. It's a free cake. They are expecting 130 - 150 people.

They told me that the cake will not be the only dessert and that it will be a part of a large sweet table.

I've decided to make 4" round tiers in the following sizes: 6', 7', 8', 9', and 10'. According to my calculations from the Wilton serving chart, that amounts to 120.

Should that be sufficient? To be honest, as it stands right now, this mountain cake will be 20" tall which is the largest cake I've ever made. I'll be baking for 2 days and I really don't want to make it any larger. Do you think it will be ok?

If the are having an entire dessert table I think you will be fine. Good luck on your mountain cake. It sounds fun.

Yes it probably will be just fine. I realize this is for teens - usually big eaters - but with other desserts I'm sure you will be o.k.
That is going to be hard to transport all put together. The 10" largest tier is not enough support for the rest of the tiers when moving the cake. In other words, it's going to be top-heavy - sway easily. I suggest you put it on a 13" (or even better) 14" Board. Even then I would be extremely careful going around any turns

Yikes. Now I'm really nervous. I have no choice but to transport it assembled. We have to take the highway to get to the venue as well.

Should I put it on a yoga mat in the back of my van and hold it? Also, should I use plywood as a board?

I don't do a lot of tiered cakes since I just bake for a hobby but SPS is popular here for transporting assembled cakes.

I don't have enough time to get the SPS system and my tiers are never exactly 4" tall (usually a little over or a little under).

Definitely put it on a sturdy, non-flexible base like plywood. Will you have a center post going through all tiers? Put a flange on the cake board and stack the tiers over a sturdy pipe or dowel. Maybe you can allow the pipe or dowel to stick up out of the top enough to actually hold during the transport, then put some kind of figure or decoration over that when you arrive. And, yes to the yoga mat - something to keep it from sliding. Sounds like a neat cake - I know he will love it!

Use the wilton wide plastic dowels they looked rippled are are fairly wide..They are longer than SPS and can be cut to fit and the wilton seperater plates fit inside of them perfectly..I use them all the time.