Handing Cakes Over And Worried They Will Slide!
Decorating By rebekahs Updated 6 Apr 2014 , 7:57pm by sweettreats8914
AHi everyone, I've done a few cakes for family and always deliver myself and am VERY careful - I treat them like babies lol. Now I have been asked to make my friend's child's first communion cake and she is coming to pick it up and will have to drive 40 miles with it and set it up herself. I've told her it will be heavy and not to knock it but do you all just use bc or RI to fix to the board or would you drill dowels into the board, and if so would u use normal plastic dowels or wooden? Obviously my tier will be dowelled (it's just a two tier cake)? I just can imagine she will tip it up or it will get bashed in the boot of the car! Any advice v much appreciated thanks.
AHave her sign a waiver releasing you of liability if cake is ruined while transporting. We do NOT allow customers to pick up and transport multiple tiered cakes, and our customers are made aware of that when they place their orders. We prefer to also deliver all of our orders but for those who want to pick up other items that are NOT tiered, we insist on a waiver of liability which states we cannot be held responsible if their items do NOT arrive as intended. Also we take pictures of ALL our items before they leave our premises in order to document their condition before they left our hands. Having said all that, lots of buttercream to afix cake to board and dowel tiers together well, and pray. :grin: Hth
AYou owe the customer a cake that will travel well, assuming they follow your driving instructions. From your post, it sounds to me like you don't have enough experience under your belt to be certain you're gving the customer a sound cake. Sure, people on here can tell you what do do, but you're doing it for the first time and sending it off on a 40 mile drive with a customer?
When someone asks you to agree to something, you can just say no. It's one thing to please customers as best you can, but don't mix that up with doing something ill advised.
ATo answer your question, I just use icing before setting the cake on its board, wooden dowels, I double drum it and drive a thin wooden dowel through to the bottom of the drum. I glue the bottom board to the drum.
AMight want to give SPS a try. I don't have a need for it anymore, but I'll definitely suggest it to someone who sounds like it will be beneficial. Try it once at least!
AOh...and Google SPS cake support for more info OR find posts here by LeahS, the resident SPS expert.
1. I ALWAYS insist on delivering my own cakes. I will make exception for non-tiered cakes though.
2. I also like to travel with my cakes very well chilled. Makes them much more sturdy for traveling.
Sounds like by the time they get it back to the party and serve it, it will be back to room temp.
AWith tiered cakes, I always advise them to have a rider to either hold the cake or sit next to it...I have a 3-tiered going out this weekend and I will deliver to customer, but she plans to take it on a 45 min drive...I use a generous amount of BC to glue cake to board, dowel each tier well, and run a decent sized dowel rod down the center of all tiers being sure I get it stuck into the cake board...hope that helps...we are all at different points with our experience and learning, and that is OK...that is what these forums are designed for, to share knowledge and to support each other in what we all love to do...make cakes!
AThanks so much everyone - I should clarify that this is for my friend from work - she is not paying me for the cake - I don't have a cake business and I am just starting out - it's just as I'm doing it for nothing she will travel to me to pick it up but obviously I want it to look good at her event :)
ARosegin I use royal icing to fix to the board and then dowel the tiers but never into the board, but I have always delivered it myself before so it's never been an issue. You can't get SPS in the UK.
AI also recommended that they bring two thin towers to fold and level out the car seat. This reduces the chance of the cake tilting in transit.
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