Hi,

I might have my first potential wedding cake order for a non-family member but she wants to pick up the cake on Friday morning and drive it to the town where the reception will be held on Saturday.

That means I have to work on the cake on Thursday night. I was going to cover the cake in fondant but since you cannot refrigerate fondant it would be dicey to have a cake sit out for 2 days. That leaves buttercream but can it sit out for 2 days and if so does anyone have any recipes. She wanted me to bake the Italian Wedding cake with pineapples and cream cheese but it would need to be refrigerated and I'm not sure if she will follow through with those instructions. I even recommended a non-stacking design as it will fit in someone or a few someone's refridgerator.

At this point, I don't want to do it as there are so many variables out of my control (client is driving the cake to the site, she will need to refrigerate, etc.) but she is my best friend's ex-sister-in-law.

Can someone give me some guidance? I need recipes for cake and icing that don't require refrigeration but taste good. I will pass on the suggestions to the client as I have stressed to her my concern for the cake being prepared ahead of time, needing refrigeration and that it might not be as fresh as I would like it to be.

Oh, hell no...That sounds like a recipe for disaster.

IF you decide to do this, don't do anything that needs to be refrigerated, since it sounds like you can't be sure they'll follow the instructions. (You can refrigerate fondant, by the way, it might get a little sticky when you first take it out of the fridge, but it will be fine.)You should definitely refrigerate any cake that's going to travel so that it's good and hard before she picks it up. If you give a soft cake to a non-caker it's guaranteed to shift and shake on the way there, and it will end up wrecked. Plenty of professionals have trouble delivering non-refrigerated cakes without having them shift, so it's pretty much guaranteed that it will happen in this case.

Isn't the Italian wedding cake really soft? I see "pineapple and cream cheese" and think "disaster!" I'd tell her that you can't do that combination for a cake that has to travel, it's too risky.

Personally, I'd pass on this "opportunity," even if it means missing out on the booking. It's too much risk and not enough security that they'll follow what you tell them to do, and you know they won't blame themselves when something happens to the cake, they'll blame you for it somehow!

Mmmmmmm....yep, what costume said. Pass! Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

i ve always refridgerated my fondant and I have never even experienced stickyness or moisture build up. It could be that I am in New Mexico and it is extremelly dry here (humidity speaking) and that might make it difference.

I'm really not that disappointed so I will call her up and pass.