I wondered if anyone could give me advice on the best method to package frozen cakes (not frosted or assembled) if I am to travel and check them in as luggage in boxes. My first cake out of states and am terrified. I have never frozen of traveled with cakes before......HELP HELP HELP!!!!!!!

I heard that many companies that ship fresh pastries or cheesecakes use dry ice, I also read that you have to be very careful, dry ice can cause serious burns if not treated with caution.

I hope this helps.

In general, you can't put dry ice on a commercial airline as a passenger. Dry ice consumes oxygen and can be dangerous in large quantities.

The best way to travel with pre-made cake that isn't iced is to simply put the cooled cake back in its pan, wrap the whole thing tightly in saran wrap, and then in aluminum foil. Put the cake layers in boxes that hold them snug to the sides, putting a piece of cardboard between each pan. There's no need to even try to keep them frozen while flying, since you'll need to do the torting/filling once you get to your destination. Mark the box "Fragile" and if nothing is able to move around in the box, everything should be just fine.

This is the way that the competitors in the Food Network cake challenges ship their pre-made cake layers.

Rae

I just read an article in the local paper about how the recent ban on travelling with liquids was hurting local food companies (here in MD, it would be those who sell crabs/crab cakes, etc at the airport). They've started using frozen vegies as the packing material instead of dry ice or regular ice. The article read that people were not complaining of any degradation in the food once home. The companies were starting to advertise to "just add butter and seasoning and you have a side dish!"

You might want to give this a try!

Thank you so much for your suggestions. I was so overwhelmed by the packing that I wanted to stay from the trip in whole. Again, thank you so much!!!!!!!

Fahina, I am doing this same thing in a little over a month!!

I was initially going to ship the frozen cakes overnight, but that will be way too expensive so I have decided to check them as baggage.You should check with your airline- I am pretty sure that you CAN still check items packed in dry ice as long as they are in an appropriate container that will allow for the carbon dioxide to escape. Also go to www.tsa.gov for more info.

Please let me know what you end up doing and how it works for you!

Amber

Sweetamber,

Thanks for the info. I will let you kow how it all turns out.

I flew a frozen, undecorated 4 layer cake to Hawaii for my friend's wedding in March. I did exactly as described above--the cakes were frozen, wrapped well in saran wrap, stuck back in their pans, with the cardboard rounds covering the tops. Bubble wrap filled the rest of the suitcase so nothing slid around. At that time I was able to carry on the package, but I'm sure it would work with checked luggage, too. The cakes were in perfect condition when we got there.

modthyrth (that's a mouthfull), did you use anything to keep the cakes frozen in their boxes like dry ice or gel ice packs? Hawaii's a long flight away, so I'm sure that whatever worked for you will work for me!

Amber

I have recently travelled from Australia to America with the top tier of a wedding cake. The cake was iced in fondant without any decoration on it. I placed it in a box close to the size of the cake and packed bean bag beans around it as it was in a box I made a clear cover for the top so all could see what was inside. It travelled as hand luggage. Everyone wanted piece. I had no problems.

Nope, I didn't use anything to keep the cake frozen--just itself! The cake took up most of the room in the suitcase, and had enough bulk that it stayed mostly frozen for the entire trip.

If the cake isn't torted and filled with a perishable filling, it doesn't really matter if it stays frozen.

As long as it is fresh when it's been well wrapped in saran and foil, it will be fine when it lands.

Rae

Actually, it does matter to me that the layers remain frozen- I am landing a full 3 days before the wedding! Also since my cakes are scratch, they don't stay at optimum freshness it left to sit out for too long, but they do very well if kept frozen .

Amber

I landed almost a week before the wedding. I just popped the semi-frozen cakes into the fridge when I arrived (we rented a big house by the beach for everyone, so had a full sized, if not well-equipped, kitchen). I'm a scratch baker, too, and made a pina colada cake. It's a moist cake to begin with, and then gets drizzled with extra coconut milk, so it stayed super fresh and moist, even baked a week ahead of time.

If you're going to be in a hotel and won't have access to a fridge, there's a good chance they'll let you take a bit of room in their big commercial fridges. Doesn't hurt to ask!

Oh, we didn't have a mixer at the house we rented, so I made my buttercream ahead of time and flew it out, too. Be very, very careful to bring way more than you think you'll need. I ran out, and the day before the wedding had to run around to the very few bakers on Kauai (a very rural island) trying to convince them to let me have some of their precious buttercream. I paid $80 for a bucket (your basic double batch of icing). Eek. Good thing I loved the bride.

The other lesson learned: don't even try to do fondant in Hawaii during a week in which we got over 30 inches of rain. Good thing I had lots of orchids to cover unexpected wierdness.

Thanks for the tips! It sounds like you really had an adventure ...At least it's dry and cool where I'm going- I can't imagine the stress you must have had dealing with all that in Hawaii!

The only thing I an really worried about is getting my cake layers, gumpaste pieces, and decorating tools there- I am so worried about lost luggage .

I am going to be staying with the bride who is a very dear friend and using another friends kitchen to make all my smbc and fillings and have had 3 people offer to let me use their KA mixers, so I'm covered there. This friend also has an extra fridge in the garage that will be empty- just for the cakes! The only reason I'm not baking the cakes there is that I am NOT used to high altitude baking and don't want to take any chances.

Amber

Arrh go on be a devil, have a go. I did. We arrived on the Tuesday the wedding was saturday. Wednesday we put our mother in hospital and had the sister that was helping me being sick everywhere. The next day being Thursday we made the cakes in the brides kitchen and had to leave one in the oven for the bestman to get out as we had to go to the hospital. He couldn't get the cake out, on The Friday it was my turn to be sick and at 6.30pm the day before the wedding we had to bake another cake as the one the bestman had trouble with was a mess - we used it though. 2.30am Saturday we finished at the brides place, we had a hour to drive back the the hotel, and the next day we were up again at 6.30 to put the cake together. At least the top tier that had travelled from Australia was still in one piece and the best part of the cake. Oh I forgot all the decorations also had to be made on the Friday. A big learning curve. Would I do it again, you bet ya! The next time we would not miss the Church service. The joys of cake decorating.