I've been admiring the stacked beach cakes on this site and am going to attempt a two tiered one for my mother-in-law's birthday party this weekend. But, I have a bunch of questions first:
1. I want to sprinkle sand (brown sugar?) around the base of the bottom cake. Is there a trick for getting it to stick to the covered cake board during transit (I have to drive about 40 minutes if there's no traffic), or do I just do that when arrive?
2. I want to sprinkle sand around the base of the top tier and a little on the top. Again, is there a trick for getting it to stick? My cake will be covered with buttercream, but I usually let it sit overnight before stacking, so it should be dry by the time I put the sugar on.
3. Are there any issues with the sugar dissolving and disappearing into the buttercream?
4. I also want to put some chocolate shells on the top and around the bottoms of each cake. Do I glue them on with buttercream or just sit them on the cake? It's supposed to be in the upper 80s here this weekend, so I wonder if I should try to keep them chilled and put them on when I arrive?
5. If I put luster dust on the chocolate shells, krystal kolors is the only FDA-approved dust, right?
Thanks in advance for your help! I really need it!
I used vanilla wafers that I ran thru the food processor for sand in my seashell wedding cake.
1. put the "sand" on when you get there. Much less hassle.
2. Sprinkle the "sand" around the area where the tier will sit then place the top tier. That way the sand is already there and you don't take a chance on damaging the icing by touching the cake to sprinkle it around the top tier. If you want some on the sides, use the wafers andput on the cake before the icing crusts.
3. That's why I use wafers instead of sugar. Works great everytime.
4. Don't chill the chocolate! It will sweat and ruin any colors you have put on it. I just pushed them on to the side of the cake but did it when I set up the cake not before I transported it. Also, ifyou are using candy wafers to make the shells, they are very resiliant. I left some of the shells (extras) from my seashell cake in my car during the day and they didn't melt!!
5.There is only one brand that is FDA approved. There are lots of threads about this on here.
After you take the chocolate out of the fridge/freezer and out of the molds don't try to put the dust on right away. Let the moisture evaporate and then dust!
Good luck and I'm sure your m-i-l will love it.
I waited until I arrived with a cake that I did where I put graham cracker crumbs on the cake.... I just didn't want to take the chance of them falling all over other parts of the cake... it only took me a few minutes to do... I'd also wait on putting the chocolate shells on the cake too ... make sure your vehicle is cooled down before you load your cake to transport. Otherwise, you may have a melting mess!
On the luster dust, I'm not sure on that part but maybe someone else who is familiar with that can answer it better .. good luck and let us know how the cake turns out!! 
Thanks so much for all of this great advice---I'm glad that I asked! Maybe I will try the vanilla wafers or graham crackers instead, that sounds less risky.
dodibug--I like the idea of sprinkling the sand on the bottom tier and then stacking the top tier. I know I would smudge things up trying to get the sand on after the cakes were stacked. Question though--would I sprinkle the sand in an "O" shape, with the middle empty where the top cake would sit? Or would it be a filled in circle and sand would be under the top cake too? Does it matter?
Thanks again!
I do a lot of beach cakes (I live at the beach, it's a running joke), and when I do the "sand" I spread some piping gel around on the base and anywhere else I'll be spreading the "sand". I've never had a problem with it moving around during transit.
I've done brown sugar and nilla wafers and I prefer the nilla wafers. When you get a slice of cake a pile of cookies tastes way better than a pile of sugar. Also, When I did my beach cake, I put the sand and everything on before I left the house. It's only like a 10 minute drive, but the cake board shifted on the drive and I had to fix the sand and the little "rocks" when I got there. If I where you, I would just wait until I got there and then add the sand and the shells. It doesn't take that long and then you don't have to worry about it on the drive. And I put the sand on the the tiers the night before when I decorated the cake and it stuck fine and didn't get soggy or anything
you could use a waxed board and paint around the cake with a little more buttercream, then add your sugar or crumbs, whatever you use.
Theresa
Thanks for all of the ideas, everyone! Feel free to keep them coming. I'll probably start the shells Wed. or Thurs, bake/fill/ice the cakes on Fri, and stack/decorate on Sat, so I have plenty of time to benefit from your knowledge!
I'm starting to think that I might travel with the two tiers separately and stack/finish decorating there. Then I don't have to panic about the cake sliding or deal with the center dowel. The last time I used a center dowel (in a class), it got stuck on the first cardboard layer so I kept pushing. Of course, my hand landed right on the top tier and made a big smush mark! I'll try a mallet next time, but I prefer to avoid the center dowel when possible.
I love your shells on your wedding cake did you make those? if so may I ask how? they look great.
Thank you so much! I used Clasen white chocolate melts. They were fantastic! I got the molds from a couple of different websites. I used several different colors of petal and luster to create a more realistic looking shell. Have you made candy using the melts? If you need more info on the how-to of making them or the colors I used, please let me know. I'd be happy to share. Just not sure how much info you need/want!
ogolds-when I have used the center dowel I use SquirrellyCakes method which means you place dowel sized holes in the cake boards, place the long dowel in the bottom cake and then lower the subsequent tiers down on the down rather than driving it thru. I have found this to work very well for me because I am chicken and do not want to deal with a hammer anywhere near my cake!! lol!
I just wanted to thank everyone so much for your advice on my beach cake. I finished it today and was pretty happy with the results (it's in my photos).
I used vanilla wafers for the sand, and ending up stacking it at my mother-in-law's house. I also ended up making the shells completely out of chocolate. I planned to make them out of white chocolate and dust them with powder coloring. That totally didn't work as I planned, so I redid them all in chocolate.
The top tier is yellow with buttercream in between the layers. The bottom is chocolate with raspberry between the layers.
Thanks again for all of your help!
Your beach cake is just so cool! Fantastic job, and I'm glad all worked out for you!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%