I am making a wedding cake (my first!) for my girlfriend's renaissance faire wedding and I'm trying to work through a few challenges.

• The reception is going to be at the very back of the fairgrounds, and there's apparently no back service entrance that I can use. So I'm stuck taking this big ol' wedding cake on a 5-10 walk over uneven ground and through fair crowds...
  
  The reception is in an outdoor pavilion and it's likely that it's going to be a hot, humid day. There is no access to electricity because we're partying like it's 1599, doncha know! Any ideas on how to avoid a meltdown? The cake, that is!
  
  The pewter cake topper is HEAVY! It's about 1.25 lbs.

My game plan right now is to use RKT to make 2 dummy layers and have one real layer for the bridal couple to cut. I intend to use a shortening-based BC and cover with fondant. Guests would get cupcakes. I'm thinking that would reduce the weight of the cake and make it easier to transport on foot. Also, I can make up the dummies in advance because I'm going to be out of town the weekend before.

I'm also wondering if it's reasonable to put that heavy topper on a dummy layer, put the real cake on the middle layer and another dummy for the bottom tier. Or is that just asking for trouble?

I'm really hoping you guys have some good advice to share. Thanks very much!

Julie

If you just want a tier of cake for the couple to cut, put it on top, because otherwise you'll have to tear the cake apart to get to the cuttable part. Not a prime photo opportunity! There are ways to get around the problem of a heavy topper. I would suggest you put a central dowel down the middle of the cake through all the layers, just like you would if all the tiers were cake. You could also put 3-5 bubble tea straws in a circle around this dowel, just in the top tier, two or three inches out from the center of the cake. If your topper has a broad enough base, it would rest on these and they, not the cake, would take the weight of the topper. If the topper doesn't have a broad base, you can put a cake circle under it (either underneath or on top of the fondant) to spread out the weight load. You can certainly make the dummy tiers in advance. If you possibly can, transport the dummy tiers stacked and the real cake tier separately and stack it there. It'll save you a lot of grief if you do that. Just take a repair kit for the bottom border of the real cake. If you're using buttercream under the fondant, use the thinnest layer you can. The BC is going to melt in the heat, so the less you have, the less the fondant will slip around. Just enough to stick the fondant to the cake. Best of luck! Send us a photo and let us know how it went!

Why not make it really easy on yourself and use foam cake dummies. RKT dummies are going to be expensive and heavy.

Ooh, yes! Sorry I didn't read carefully enough - I didn't get that you were planning on making the dummies out of RKTs. They'll weigh a ton! You can pretty much take leah_s's advice on anything on CC as gospel and she's sure right this time. I was assuming you'd be using styrofoam dummies until I re-read your post just now. Definitely use styrofoam ones or ones made out of that other stuff that looks like the compressed version of those little white balls they used to use in beanbag chairs (I don't know what it's called!).