Ok so I did a pretty big bday cake, 3 tiers, and of course my local store doesn't sell boxes tall enough to close for my cake. I have to deliver tonight... what do you guys normally do? I just kinda saran wrapped it, but I dont know how professional that looks....

Get a big box from a packing store and secure the bottom of it really well. Take it back home with you to re-use.

I've been thinking about this same issue potentially with my cookie cakes that I am doing now. The best I could come up with is a packing box like UPS uses. They can be purchased from WalMart. Or perhaps the storage boxes that places like Office Depot carries. Once the cake is delivered you could keep the box???


cakeymom

I just deliver w/out a box. If they chose to pick up is when I look for boxes..............

well she is traveling three hours away with it..... maybe I should go get a packing box!

Three hours- you better pre warn her that the surface that box sits on has to be perfectly- exactly- PERFECTLY level! Or that cake will slide and shift till falls.

Really? You need a pic of a brown cardboard box? They usually have samples of their boxes you can look at in the packing stores. Any Mailbox, UPS or USPS . Just measure how bit you need it to be. How big in diameter is your cake board base and how tall plus a couple inches does it need to be. Some stores carry boxes for glassware and are double coorugated in strength. Those are more money but good sturdy.

On Cake Boss this week, they used taped-together boxes for a tiered cake. It looked like clear packing tape attaching at the sides, all around where the 2 boxes meet. The top box is upside down on the bottom box, so when the cake is in and it's taped up, the cake is totally hidden. They made a wrong cake delivery because they couldn't see the cake to compare it to the order slip!

Same way you would put anything else, but with cake you don't want it to be able to slide around at all. So make sure the box is near the size of the the cake board, tape up that bottom as if your life depended on it and put the cake in carefully. You could use no slip stuff under it or tape anything you can easily remove that will add more stability. Don't mind my snarkyness from earlier and I appologize as the 'funny' is hard to read in print. I was giggling and hoping you would be too. LOL were you rolling your eyes when you typed never mind.. hehe See that is my sense of humour with friends... Just joshin around.

I guess I'm still confused about the packing box. How do you lower it down into the box and pull it back up without damaging the frosting/fondant? Especially if it is about the same size as the cakeboard - seems that would be really difficult to do.

Cut down the seam of one of the sides of the box and slide the cake in and shut and tape the side back together when it is in.

When I put a round board into a square box, I just hold the board on each side and lower it into the box so my hands go down into the corners -plenty of room. If it's more than 2 tiers, I would do as everyone above suggests, and cut one side of the box, leaving the bottom attached and folded down, put the cake in from the side, then tape the box shut on both of the cut sides.

Here's a great picture, and the wedding cake boxes are for sale:

http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/wedding/large_image.jpg

I've seen it where instead of putting the box on its bottom like normal, people put it upwards. you would need a box with a lid for this idea.The side of the box will be the new bottom, so now you slide the cake that way, and fit the other part together and tape it real good. the theory sounds good, but i guess doing it might be a different story. maybe you can practice it with a dummy cake to get an idea. hope that helps