a stacked cake. May seem like a silly question but I am so afraid to do my first stacked cake. I have a baby shower cake for the 20th and I think that the request would look so much better stacked and the person is leaving it up to me. I am very nervous though about doing a stacked, it will be traveling about 45 minutes and I am not delivering it. I am so chicken I thought about buying the pretty Wilton 3 piece set and using it because I am afraid to stack but I know it would look the best. What do you all say is stacking a cake hard??
It is not difficult. You must dowel it to stop it from sliding. There are some good instructions around. Wilton actually have good ones.I am not the best person at writing instructions out, but there are a lot of people on CC that are very good at directing & explaining. I'm sure you will do a good job.
I was really scared to make a stacked cake....I had to make one for a wedding with not a lot of notice..... I got all the instructions and advice on CC it found it was really quite easy and it worked out fantastic....even after a 3 1/2 car trip!!!
so go for it and asked heaps of questions, it will work our great!!! 
Using Wooden Dowels is definately the way to go. I have had to travel with cakes before and I use wooden dowels cut to the height of the tier to support the next tier. This works great for the 1st step, but there is a second step to tie it all together. Once you have all of your tiers on your board and they are stacked and sturdy, take a long dowel, sharpen one end of it and drive it all the way through the cake and all the internal cardboards and cut the dowel even with the top. This will keep the whole thing from moving or sliding even during a warm weather transport. (as long as it is not made with mousse or cream that will melt and make the cake sag)
I have seen people using straws for this but they work poorly. To relate an experience I was working at a Hotel a la carte dessert dining room when I get a frantic call from the Captain of a big wedding upstairs. So I get the Exec. Sous to take souffle orders and I run up to the ballroom. I see the Best man attached to one side of the table that the wedding cake was on. The company that supplied the cake used straws and it collapsed during the Wedding. So the Best Man and I carried the table down to the Pastry Shop as he was attached to it by this point. For the next 30 minutes the Exec. Chef and I built a new cake while the sous covered all of the orders.
My point is if you have a proper base, and give it as much support as you can than you have done your job. btw. The company that made the cake has a monopoly in town as they pay off the catering managers of the Hotels not to allow other cakes in. The sad thing is in less than a year I saw this happen almost a dozen times and we always had to fix them, but I can tell you that none of the Brides ever had to pay for their cakes.
IMHO.....stack cakes "on site". Take along bags of icing and various tips for fix ups.
Stacking the cake on site is great if you have a guaranteed clean sanitary and quiet working space. I have transported hundreds of tiered cakes, some up to 100 miles and I have never had one fall. Just remember to use proper support, and do not forget to let the caterer know about the dowels!
I do agree that you should always do 2 things when delivering the cake.
1. Bring a touch up kit with royal icing, dusting colors, extra flowers or whatever you may need but hopefully never will.
2. Take a picture of the cake with the Catering manager and one of the Happy Couple or their parents. That way if a waiter bumps into your cake you have proof positive that it was delivered and accepted in good condition.
im pretty new at cake decorating and i am pretty much learning by trying new things i skipped doing flat cakes and went straight to stacked which probably isnt the best way to go because it can be discouraging when things dont turn out right, like the first time i made a cake it was a little crooked and off centered, the 2nd cake was centered correctly but still croocked, and my most recent cake was not croocked at all (well maybe a little) but the icing just would not come out smooth, i know i have a point but i forgot what it was lol!! just venting i guess .
Okay well I can't stack on site because I am not delivering the cake! But thanks everyone for all the great info. Okay I still have more questions, lol! When I put the center dowel in that won't do any damage to the cake?? I am a box mix person is that okay for stack cakes, or does it matter? and I think my last question for the moment is this is a baby shower cake for 30 people so how big should it be and do I tell them to remove the tiers before cutting it? sorry so many questions just want to do the best I can and you guys all have such great insight!! Thanks so much!
Hi, When you put the dowel down through each layer it will leave only small holes. If you place them in a circular pattern they will hold the next layer. For the last dowel to go through all the layers I make sure that my cake is as cold as possible so it will not start to collapse in the middle as I push the dowel through the cardboards. I hope that this helps.
Do not worry about jumping to stacked cakes first. I had been a home baker before going to Pastry school where I was mentored by the Wedding Cake Professor for 2+ years. I had only made cakes for friends and family and done some plated desseert work when I got thrown into the world of Gumpaste. I actually assisted and made over 50 fondant and gumpaste Wedding cakes before I ever had do an iced one. I had to wing it as it was a 5 tier and had to be delivered 45 minutes away.
Do not worry after your first few you will pick up all the tricks. Just make sure that you give each tier good support before you add the next tier. Be gentle but firm when putting the larger dowel down the center, if you have to actually pound it once or twice to get it through the card board do not worry as long as your cake is cold and firm it should not compress. Next breath regularly and often and when done putting it together have fun decorating!
Konditoralex:
The company that made the cake has a monopoly in town as they pay off the catering managers of the Hotels not to allow other cakes in. The sad thing is in less than a year I saw this happen almost a dozen times and we always had to fix them, but I can tell you that none of the Brides ever had to pay for their cakes.
I can quite believe this happens but hells-bells the pay-offs to catering managers must be pretty good (for a manager to put up with troublesome cakes and also the poor light cast upon the hotel by association with regular incompetence). If I was senior management and I got wind of this as a regular occurence I'd be asking questions. Plus, if they're refunding money on a regular basis how do they stay in business - presume volume must just keep them afloat.
The cake company has signed contracts with all of the hotels and sites in the area and has driven everyone else out of business. I could not make my own Wedding Cake where I worked, I could not afford their prices either so we found one of the only Halls that allowed us to bring in our own food.
What keeps them afloat is that everyone thinks that mix and icing from a bucket is the best! Compared to the cakes that Publix makes they are, but who wants to eat grease cream? People around here also are very cheap and are not willing to pay for quality even though this is a very well to do part of Florida.
i dont have time to read through all theposts so i dontknow if this was mentioned, but for the person driving, you may want to provide a piece of non slip- grip pad to place under the cake box, and perhaps a piece in the box, under the cake board. i buy it in rolls at walmart for a dollar and cut into pieces. it will really prevent the cake from sliding around while driving. also, make sure you use a thick board, either a premade foil covered cakedrum (1/2" thick) or 3 layers of cardboard rounds, or two layers of foamcore board, or something hard like masonite board. otherwise your pretty cake might crack or fall off when lifting or moving it. good luck, its good satisfaction seeing the end result of hard work. go for it!
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