Please help! Who has brought a cake on a plane? I was originally planning on freezing them and traveling with them checked under the plane, but am now leaving the day before the event rather than a few days ahead of time, so they wouldn't have time to thaw to decorate. It is 3 tiers, 14, 10 and 6 inches, so I'm not sure if it will be too big to carry on. AUGH!!! Helpful hints, anyone???
I would contact TSA at your airport and ask if it will even be allowed in the cabin as I doubt it. You will probably have to check it. They won't even let you bring any food items that were not purchased after passing through the security check points. Good luck
Luckylibra - TSA's websites says cakes are allowed to be brought on. Airtran also told me I should be able to bring it on, but I can't reach TSA today. It just must be packaged somehow.
Cabecakes, Unfortunately the event is this coming weekend, so I don't think I have time to ship, or can afford it...
On top of it all, I will have my 3 month old in my lap...
Wow, I am surprised they allow cakes and pies but good for your situation. Packaging and making sure it will survive the trip may be your issue then. It will have to either fit in an overhead or under the seat in front of you. Maybe putting it in the box then in a clear plastic tote with newspaper packed around to keep it from shifting during flight?
You can ask the cabin staff if they will store it for you at the front of the plane in the galley area. Some airlines will do this.
For my son's wedding in Las Vegas, I took cake layers (2-- 14", 2 10", 2- 6") in a carry on suitcase.
Each set of layers was in a tight fitting box with a cake board on the bottom, one between the layers, and one on top. Each layer was wrapped twice in saran wrap. They were NOT frozen.
We had no problems with the TSA, or any other aspect of the airport/airplane.
We carried the suitcase flat/horizontal--didn't roll it--and put it in the overhead bin. The rest of the things needed to make the cake: addtional boards, buttercream, fondant, tools, etc. went into a duffel bag in the belly of the plane.
Here's the result:
HTH
Rae
Blakescakes, thanks, that's awesome, since it is the exact same size I am making. Did you make the cake boards and boxes larger than the layers? For example, 16" boards and boxes for the 14", OR was it a snug fit?
It was a snug fit.
I used a 1/2 inch foamcore board (same size as the tier) under each tier when making the cake, so that was the bottom board of each box, and then the other 2 boards on the top and in the middle were just thinner, regular cake boards cut to the same size as the tier. I didn't use them in the construction of the cake, just as support in the boxes.
My DH cut up and pieced together regular white cake boxes so that they just fit the LxWxH of each set of layers & boards. I never heard the exact measurements, but I'd guess that the boxes wound up being about just under 5 inches tall.
So, it went, box bottom, 1/2 inch foamcore board same size as layers, 1 layer wrapped 2X in saran wrap, thin cake board same size, 2nd layer wrapped in saran, thin cake board, closed box.
There is some compression this way, but I was OK with that. If you have the option for using 2 overhead bags, you just do boxes w/single layers. We had to use our other carry on for things for the wedding that couldn't go into the cargo hold.
The overhead compartments on Southwest will fit a suitcase that's 24x16x10, so it was a tight fit--but that's good. I think we had the 14" & the 10" on the bottom and the 6" on top of those in the middle with bunched up plastic bags taking up any free space.
HTH
Rae
Sorry, just couldn't resist. 
The last time I flew, I took 16 dozen cake balls packed in egg cartons in my carry-on. The TSA thought it was weird, and they chemical tested the bag, but they let it through. I've done this twice, actually. My daughter's co-workers are addicted to my cake balls. She takes orders when I come for a visit; I always make enough money to pay for my ticket.
You can take your own food through Security onto the plane, you just can't take liquids.
You guys have made me feel much more confident about this! Hey, Blakescakes, you premade your BC and just put it plastic and under the plane?
Yes, I pre-made my buttercream (half butter, half crisco), put it in 2 gallon zip loc bags and then into clean, empty 10 lb. fondant buckets.
You can take fondant as long as it's in your checked luggage.
Rae
Just don't try to take fondant on the plane. I learned the hard way that it resembled C4 too much for them to allow it. I had to get out of the Security line and go check my two 2 lb. containers of fondant. It was all very traumatic. : /
LOL, and I WAS planning on making that ahead of time, since I didn't want to be flying with bags of powdered sugar... 
TSA opened my fondant (in my checked luggage) on my way home from Cake Camp in Vegas, and left it exposed to air. 
(
You guys have made me feel much more confident about this! Hey, Blakescakes, you premade your BC and just put it plastic and under the plane?
Yes, I pre-made my buttercream (half butter, half crisco), put it in 2 gallon zip loc bags and then into clean, empty 10 lb. fondant buckets.
You can take fondant as long as it's in your checked luggage.
Rae
I really want to premake the BC but was worried they would melt...one filling would be a Bailey's BC 50/50 but I am also making a chocolate hazelnut that's all butter...just not sure how that will stand up.
You guys have made me feel much more confident about this! Hey, Blakescakes, you premade your BC and just put it plastic and under the plane?
Yes, I pre-made my buttercream (half butter, half crisco), put it in 2 gallon zip loc bags and then into clean, empty 10 lb. fondant buckets.
You can take fondant as long as it's in your checked luggage.
Rae
I really want to premake the BC but was worried they would melt...one filling would be a Bailey's BC 50/50 but I am also making a chocolate hazelnut that's all butter...just not sure how that will stand up.
How long does it have to be out of the fridge. That'll really determine whether it's safe.
If it's a PS & shortening based BC, even if it's 50% butter, it can stay at temps under 80F for days & days without being a problem.
I flew with mine from Cleveland to Las Vegas in March. It had been frozen for several days before being packed. It was cool in Cleveland--maybe 55F--and I have no idea where it sat for the several hours after check in and before take off.
It was warm when we arrived in Las Vegas--75F-80F. When we arrived at the condo--about an hour after we'd landed, the buckets of BC were still cool to the touch. We put it in the fridge because I wouldn't need it for 2 days (and we didn't have a lot of counterspace). I let it come to room temp and then re-mixed it by hand with a spatula.
Remember--the cargo hold isn't pressurized or heated. When the plane is in the air, it's the equivalent of a very cold refrigerator.
Rae
Well, I don't know if it helped, but I put a big note written w/ black sharpie stating that it was homemade buttercream icing and fondant icing for my son's wedding cake on Mar. 17, 2008 and taped on a photo of the inspiration cake.
I also added my cell phone # and I left my phone on until told to turn it off by the FA.
I did what I could to prevent stupid from ruining things, but my backup plan was always to find a store/bakery and purchase stuff.
We checked out everything the minute we got to the condo so that if we needed to go buy stuff, wed could do it right away. I had even googled Las Vegas bakeries and knew exactly where we would go if there was a problem.
Good luck!
Rae
Every time I see this topic thread, I can hear Samuel L Jackson saying "we got some cakes on this mf plane!"
ANyhow...I took a single tier from Oz to NZ iin hand luggage, plus all my tools and rolled fondant and decorated it at the destination.
HTH...if another person is travelling with you, put some cake tiers in their bag
Well, I survived. I packed all the layers in a suitcase, each layer was between cardboard and quadruple wrapped. Since it was just me, baby, stroller, carseat, cake, and luggage, it was a little struggle but I packed diapers in between the tiers in the suitcase and it protected it very well. 
The icings were in my checked luggage, and I had frozen them for the trip, and I think they weren't the best consistency to build the corners...this was a sloppy looking cake by my standards. Also, I didn't have my normal large counter to roll the fondant, making it very hard to cover the bottom tier. I've put up pics in my gallery, but I'll try to put them up here.
Try to attach again...I never have luck on CC with posting attachments, so you can see it at http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2154598.
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