Just curious how many people refridgerate there cakes when they are done to "set" them up.. I try to but sometimes I just can't do to size or design..you see I recently had a disasterous bridal shower cake and I am not sure if it was from improper doweling (so now I over dowel) or the fact that I couldnt fit it in my fridge.. so I now am paranoid about the transporting stacked cakes that have to go stacked I try not to If I can get away with it but some times due to design I have to transport stacked ... I had just gotten over that fact.. and of course I have one that has to go stacked this weekend. Ughh my stomach is turning already and I havent even decorated it yet.. I know I will never get it in the fridge.. what am I to do..I just know its not gonna make it. I have to drive over 1/2 hour to get it there.. 
Any tips please!!!!!!!!
I rarely refrigerate. In fact, I do it only if the filling requires refrigeration. I have started using the Wilton plastic hollow dowels. I love them. They're very sturdy and easy to cut. I feel like they're cleaner also!
I refrigerate once decorated. But I do not use dowels. I use cake rings for support. So they are VERY sturdy.
I feel much better when I can refrigerate. There have been a few times that the cake would not fit in the fridge once done and it made me nervous but ended up just fine.
I think as long as your support system is reliable, it shouldnt matter if its refrigerated or not.
Once you get it to the venue, they wont be refrigerating it.....
Too many dowels can weaken the cake. Here's what I do when the support system has to be disposable (otherwise, I use my stress free supports): Cut drinking straws and insert as dowels. Cut the pointed end of bamboo skewers the same length as the straw dowels. Hammer a skewer INSIDE each straw so the point penetrates the cake board. The skewers will be lower than the straws, so place a little piece of skewer on top to hammer on. This way, you won't need a million dowels. Then, I like to drive a dowel through the center of the whole cake and into the base board, but it's optional.
Usually on my fondant cakes the basic shelf life of a cake is 3-5 days. But I've never had a problem with that because it's "poof" gone before even the second day. I like to get mine done just the day before they are due. I don't usually have cakes fondant or otherwise sitting around for long. But in the case of BC you better believe I chill them puppies, like gemini said, they transport better when they are chilled.
If it had a highly perishable filling in it (which I really don't recommend in fondant cakes anyway because of the weight of the fondant and those are usually "slicker" than not so perishable fillings and have a bad tendency to slip) I would put the fondant on at the last possible time (the night before). Usually though most fillings are not going to go sour on you in 12 hours because of the sugar content anyway (usually the longest hang time of my cakes). Ok, ok there is an exception to my rule: if I want a shiny appearance to my fondant cake, yep I will refridgerate it.
Too many dowels can weaken the cake.
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I would agree with this statement based on the times that I've cut OTHER people's cakes at weddings.
Had one that was a 12" square base and she had about 12 or 15 dowels in it!! Cutting it was a mess because all the dowels made all those holes so the cake was very crumbly when trying to cut it. It was only a 3 tier cake, so she could have gotten by with only 4 dowels easy.
I never refrigerate when I do BC. The cake sets up great, gets sealed in and I simply cover them with a clean white dish towel to keep the creepy crawlies off the night before delivery. As for doweling--no need to over dowel. I usually only put in 4 of those big plastic Wilton tubes in the bottom layer, and then 4 little wooden dowels if the cake is a 3-4 tier and I even think that may be overkill, but my cakes have to be transported over 7 miles of horrendous OK bumpy dirt roads and so I don't want to take too many chances. My husband usually drives the car while I white knuckle all the way to the wedding site! You'd think I'd be over the terror after 3 years, but every wedding delivery makes me a nervous wreck!!!
I just saw this post. I have a 4 tiered wedding cake due on Sunday that I'm going to transport in 2 pieces. How many dowels should I use on each tier? I think I've been overdoweling.
I use 4, no matter how many tiers, no matter how large the cake.
Hi,
I wanted to chime in and say that I frost my cakes with a crusting buttercream and always chilll them in the fridge after I am done. For two reasons, mainly because the colors tend to bleed into each other if I just leave the cakeon the counter over night and secondly, like others said, it's just much easier to transport a chilled cake, especially here in Arizona.
KimAZ
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