I am making my 2nd wedding cake ever. It is for my cousin's wedding. In Tucson, AZ. In AUGUST! UGH! Can you say HOT and quite possibly humid?

So it will be a 3 tier stacked cake -- 16, 12 & 8 2 layer cakes w/ This filling & This cream cheese icing. I'm using the SPS for the stacking. Very simple smooth icing with dots and dot border (I apologize...I don't know where the bride got the photo!). Going to try Melvira's smoothing method!


Here is my concern:

I have to set the cake up prior to the wedding. My daughter is the flower girl & I need to be there early (5pm-ish) The wedding is at 6pm and will last up to 1 1/2 hrs. The reception is off site -- probably a 15 min trip. And there is a full dinner prior to the cake cutting! The reception site said that they will not move the cake once it is stacked. So...will this cake be okay after sitting in an air conditioned room for 4 to 5+ hours?

Any advice or ideas?

Thanks so very much!! I've gotten so many useful ideas & hints from this site!

I should be just fine! So long as no one turns off the air conditioning.

Lovely cake by the way....and make sure that you use enough dowels, just in case, you know you can never be too careful.

Good luck to you!

Your filling isn't shelf stable...

(And depending on the amount of sugar in your cc b/c recipe - your frosting might not be either.....)

Cream cheese frosting is notorious for being "soft" so why not use a favorite all shortening b/c that can withstand the heat and humidity and flavor it with either cream cheese or cheesecake extract/flavoring .

(And save yourself a lot of worry about sliding/melting icing.)

For the filling, you could do a thin layer of Rich's Bettercreme covered with Polander's, or even mix the two together.

Or use Melysa's recipe for raspberry puree filling which is shelf stable:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-4143-0-Raspberry-Puree-Filling.html

ShirleyW's faux bavarian cream filling:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2396-Bavarian-Cream-Filling.html
(You can use cc or white chocolate pudding and add raspberry extract.)

Kraft Foods doesn't recommend Cool Whip be without refrigeration for more than 2 hours:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-128301-.html
(See flayvurdfun's post.)

Safe food handling:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-581541.html
(See HerBoudoir's post.)

HTH

It's been said before, but I'll say it again "Jan H rocks!"

The OP is using SPS (no dowels) so it will be stable from a construction standpoint.

Thanks, everyone! We are discussing with the venue whether or not there is room in their walk in to put the cake until the very start of the reception. If there is not and we can't come up with another solution, we will be revising the icing & filling. *sigh*

. . . before you decide against cream cheese icing be sure to read this . . . http://www.earlenescakes.com/icings.htm

My DH liked that recipe! (He makes my icing!)

Is that icing crusting? For my novice brain -- what is the difference in the recipe of a crusting vs non-crusting icing?

I live in Tucson. You should have no problems with the cake if it is air conditioned and not sitting next to a window. Sounds as though you have the support already figured out.
Getting the cake from your house to the venue is another ordeal. Make sure you have your car cool before you pop the cake in. Try to keep it out of the sun for the drive. Maybe put a big box over it. Where are you guys having the wedding?

The wedding is at American Lutheran. The reception is at Club Congress in the Copper Hall. They offered to turn down the A/C...but I'm still very concerned about 5 hrs w/o refrigeration!

We are re-working the cake recipes. The cream cheese frosting I started with is way too soft just sitting in MY kitchen -- there is no way it would last 5 hours! So we're going to try the one posted above and if that doesn't work we're heading to a all shortening buttercream w/cheesecake flavoring.

Also, I'm considering either using Pastry Pride mixed with the raspberry jam or doing buttercream with raspberry jam and adding a little of the cheesecake flavoring to whichever.

We thought of having someone else deliver the cake, but everyone we know will be at the wedding except my Grandma and she wouldn't be able to lift the cake after it is stacked!!

Thanks for the suggestions! Any more would be greatly appreciated!!