Hi!

I am doing an 8/6/4 wedding cake this weekend for an outdoor wedding (Starts at 6. setup by 5 PM)

They want chocolate cake, buttercream and fondant. Will this be stable outside? (Forecast shows 83 F temperature)

Also, I was planning to dowel the three cakes, travel with them unstacked (30 mins away) and stack them on site. Will I still need to run a center dowel through the three tiers once set up? I am terrified the cake will crack and break if I hammer a long dowel through the center.

Appreciate your help!! Thanks

You do not need to run a dowel through the center But...when you do need to do that you just need to sharpen the point like a pencil and hit the hammer hard. It will NOT crack or bend the cake boards but will penetrate(sp?) through just fine
Just make *sure!* your tiers are level and the table is level and you should be fine at that temp I have made many cakes (not that small) in b'cream in those temps w/o problems.

pheww! thanks kakeladi..! Yeah... I saw tons of videos on stacking and how the dowel needs to be sharpened... but I'm still apprehensive about pushing it through!

So I'll just stack on site and finish the borders etc! Thanks!!

Wouldn't the cake stability depend largely on the buttercream recipe to be used? (Butter vs. hi-ratio shortening proportions)
For 83 degree weather I would trust my half butter/half shortening buttercream, personally, but shy away from using my all-butter recipe based on the temperature.
I guess personal risk-aversion & experience would factor heavily, too.
I would also use SPS to stack for insurance.
Good luck!

yes.. I am using a half butter half shortening recipe.... and I did think about SPS but since it was an 8/6/4 cake, I thought dowels would be fine?

This past Friday was a hot one here in NE Ohio. I delivered a 5 tier cake (14, 12, 10, 8 and 6 all round) to an outdoor wedding. I used bubble tea straws for supports (as always) and stacked the bottom 3 tiers at home. I can fit 3 tiers stacked in the trunk of my car so I always stack what I can at home. I then hammer (literally, hammer) 2 sharpened wooden dowels offest from the center through the 3 tiers. This stops the tiers from being able to "spin" around.

The venue was about 35 minutes from my house. I had to take back roads the entire way, I just drove slow. Once there I stacked the remaining 2 tiers, wrapped the ribbon around them and left.

I ordered a picture from the photographer for my website but she hasn't sent it to me yet. Until then, this is the picture I snapped on my iPhone. The cake was not leaning, I just can't hold a camera straight.

thanks for sharing cai0311!! the cake is beautiful!! I guess I'll make a practice cake at home and try the hammering dowel method... i'm just so apprehensive of that! LOL!!

As a side note, I chill all my cakes overnight in the fridge before delivery. I feel better traveling with a chilled cake. Plus, when my buttercream is cold it is hard so when I stacked the last 2 tiers I didn't have to worry about accidently messing the icing up on the tiers.

Yes, the 1/2 butter 1/2 shortening is the way to go as if chilling before transporting.
Again, do be sure the table the cake is displayed on is level. Even if you have perfectly level cakes/tiers, if the table isn't level the cake can/probably will fall

Thank you kakeladi! But won't the cake become dry and fondant sweat if I chill it before delivery?