In your humble opinion, what works best for you when delivering a multi tiered cake, chilling the cake prior, a trip in the freezer prior, or nothing at all? What is your method and why does it work?

Welllllllllll for me...
No matter the weather outside i have the airconditioner running for a good 5 minutes before my cake goes anywhere near the car.

If it is summer - then my homne is cool so the car must be cool
If it is winter - then my house is warm but my caking room is cool - again i want my car cool...thus the A/C goes on.

I don't like having my cakes going from one temp to another and then to another.....

So its the A/c for me and my cakes.

Bluehue

Depends on the type of cake and filling and how long it's going to be out. I ice all my cakes with butter cream the day before and leave them in the fridge. I always leave any decorating or fondant covering the day of the event.

Also, the type of fondant also affects wether you can put your cake in the fridge or not. I know I use Massa Ticino and it can hold up against the moisture of the fridge, but I never feel the need to refrigerate it anyways.

Yep I always refrigerate mine for a couple of hours to firm them up. My buttercream recipes are quite soft so I like to have that additional stability that refrigeration provides.

Back when I had my shop I delivered at room temps always.

Deliver only when very firm from the fridge. Our roads out here are just too rough and the vibration of the bumps can just mess with a cake. Hard and cold from the fridge into an AC car (unless it is already cool outside)

Same here, very rough roads. Cold cake, with a center post glued into the wooden cake plate, delivered in a cake cooler packed at the base with frozen cold packs - box is sealed tight.

Thanks OP for starting this thread. I've often struggled with this especially with cupcakes and SMBC. I want the SMBC cold for transportation but I'm afraid the cupcake will dry out due to refrigeration.

For those who refrigerate for transportation, how do you handle your cupcakes?

I refrigerate everything before delivery, they go in the fridge the day before after they're decorated. the health department likes it that way, but it also makes the cakes nice and stable for being moved around. The only time I've had any problem with tiers shifting was when they were transported without being chilled first.