Can anyone please give me some tips on how to transport a 5 tier wedding cake? I need to have it assembled, I think... it will have chocolate wraps around each tier with fruit between...so I don't think I can assemble that on site. Any tips or pointers would be great!

Also, if anyone has an ideas about how to stack cake layers with choc. wraps, I'm all ears!! But I'm assuming I'm going to have to stack all the cakes and then wrap them... right??

Personally, I wouldn't transport a cake that tall. You might have to do some assembly on-site, but if you're dealing with chocolate it gets tricky. When you say there's fruit oin between, are you going to have pillars with a space between each tier, or how is that going to be arranged?

I think that I'd probably assemble the bottom two tiers, wrap them in the chocolate while it's stacked, then put the other ties on footed plates and use hidden pillars cut to the height of the lower tiers to dowel the lower tiers. You can wrap the upper tiers, then put them onto the lower tiers at the reception site by putting the feet in the hidden pillars. Does that make sense??? I don't know if I'm explaining it clearly. Anyway, putting the upper tiers on footed plates would let you pick them up easier without messing up the chocolate wrap.

If you're going to be putting fruit between the tiers then they'll all be on footed plates anyway, so I'd just transport everything separately and assemble it there.

I have been using the skinny bamboo wood skewers ( kabob sticks) to hold my layers together. The skewers are pre sharpened and will push right through cardboards. When you stack two tiers, you drive maybe 5 or 6 skewers through the two layers. When you add tier three, you drive a few skewers through cakes 3 and 2, etc. The skewers will drive through 2 tiers. The skewers really keep the cakes together, and they are strong yet thin enough that they don't tear up the cake. After I tap in the skewer in, I mark it, pull it out a little, trim it with a clipper , and push it back in.

I recently made a cake that had 4 stacked tiers. I traveled 50 miles with it, and it didn't shift at all.

I think these skewers can be found at most grocery stores. I found mine at Gordon's Food Service.

Well, of course I'd suggest SPS. There's a sticky at the top of the How Do I" Forum that explains it.

Well, the cake is going to have chocolate wraps around it. There will be no space in between the tiers. I am planning on using the SPS system.... And yes, my husband will be there to help me, and we're thinking of bringing a cart to wheel it into the reception hall.....

Leahs or someone, will the SPS system hold up an assembled 5 tier for an hour or more car drive??? Or do you suggest assembling some of it there??

I recently used SPS for the first time on this gigantic wedding cake:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1272309.html

We transported the bottom 4 tiers stacked over horrendous Oklahoma dirt roads for about 35 miles and the thing didn't budge--not a bit. My husband and I carried the cake into the reception site together--We thought it weighed about 70 lbs. We carried it up 3 steps, over a narrow door frame and hoisted it onto the cake table and on top of that big silver stand--nothing, absolutely nothing budged--SPS will definitely do a great job for you!!!

How big is your bottom tier?

Have you done chocolate wraps before?

My bottom tier is 16" round...

yes, I've done chocolate wraps...I actually have a tutorial about them as a sticky note on the top of one of the forums...

Good I won't worry about you.
How long does your wrap have to be for the 16"?
<holding my breath>

OH MAN!!!! Gee thanks for stressing me out now!! LOL... that is so NOT going to be fun!! LOL.. OH well...Gotta do it! Yikes!! Maybe I should do that in two different strips.. that way it won't be so huge..its going to be a jagged top edge choc wrap anyway, so I bet no one would notice... Hmmm...well...we'll see... FREAKY!!

over 4 ft.????????? That's insane!!!!!!!! That's gonna be like a chocolate slip and slide......yiiiiiipppeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Hope you have a couple cake buddies in the kitchen to help you with that one??

I was hoping you were gonna say it's a square and you could cheat on the corners.

I mean I didn't mean to stress you out--you said you knew what you were doing. I believed you.

I mean I've done 'em too but nothing that big.

The big hairy deal is obviously not just handling the length--it's getting all that tempermental chocolate to cooperate all at the same time. Be ready with a hair dryer maybe to try to keep things in check.

You using candy melts? Or are you tempering chocolate?

If I was doing this, I would have to assemble from the top down because otherwise I would break the edge of the wrap on the tier below. So you pretty much have to build it first huh?

And you're gonna drive this around for an hour? How much thought have you given the box? You are gonna box it arncha?

You could 'wrap' chocolate pieces all the way around--like a fence that overlaps. Maybe?

So how big is the rest of the cake? The next tier is gonna be another toughy.

Just keep thinking and have some contingency plans ready.

Yeah...well... I do know what I'm doing with wraps. I am not using candy melts, I'm using chocolate. I have thought this through a lot...I know HOW to assemble the cake and everything...

All I really need help with is ideas about transporting...its so huge, and I really think it needs to be fully assembled...the other thing I would like help with is... I doubt I'm going to be able to move the cake back and forth into the fridge and back out when the wraps are cooling...Any good ideas???? Fans???

my aunt used to stick big bowls of ice in front of her fans when I was a kid and it felt JUST LIKE an air conditioner blowing super cold air......I've also heard of filling a 2 liter soda bottle with water and freezing it overnight and using it in the same way (I guess it doesn't melt as fast as the ice). What about that cold canned air?? I think it's pretty cheap like 2 dollars for a can.....I see them using that on the Food Network Challenges all the time with chocolates...will that help??
I don't know about everyone else, but I can't wait to see this cake. What are the chocolate wraps going to look like?? Do they have a transfer on them or marbled white and dark chocolate or what??
I bet this cake is gonna be gorgeous!!!! All I'm thinking is thank God it's not hot out anymore!!! Now that I'm into cakes I'm getting to like the Ohio winters more and more lol that is until we get 4 feet of snow!! lol

Oh yes!! I'm so glad this wedding is in the middle of winter!! I don't have to worry about it melting!! That's a great idea with the ice and fans, I think I'll do that!! Thank you so much!!

The wraps are going to look like the two I have in my photos...they're layered..brown/white/brown/white... I'll have it end with opposite colors every tier It will have strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries for fruit!! I'm so excited for it!!! YAY!!

Be careful about blowing any condensation into your chocolate.

Candy clay is an option too.

Ah yes...condensation... good idea... maybe wrap the two liter bottle in a towel or something...

If it was me I would practice this puppy. Over and over. Weeks ahead of time and then just eat all the practice chocolate.

I mean if it was me--I think I'd rig up two sets of two sheet trays each--lay them out end to end so they will be long enough. Tape a bridge across the join there between the two sheet trays--like an extra pice of mylar there so that it will hold up the strip of chocolate without dipping down there at the join.

So under one set have two heating pads.

Under the other set have ice.

This way you can move the monster back and forth as needed.

I've never made one this big--but I would start with an idea like this. Because it's impossible to get that much chocolate to cooperate and set up at the same time at room temp.

Just some giant chocolate wrapping thoughts for you.

But then I keep thinking about your four feet of chocolate.

Like maybe configure it with the sheet cake tray longwise and one smaller pan on each side--then bridge over the joins again so the wrap does not slink down there--and put ice under the sheet pan and the hot pads (on low) under each pan on the end. That will reverse the 'aging' process. Where the ends will stay soft longer while the ice will speed up the middle.

Then watch and pray

I mean I just keep thinking about how to do this.

(don't mind me)

hahaha....you're so funny k8memphis, I think you're actually fretting over this more than I am!! But then again, I'm usually a "deal with things as it comes...so just jump in and see what happens" kind of girl....