First of all, I'm brand-new to Cake Central, so hello everyone!

I have to make a wedding cake for a friend, she wants chocolate cake with hazelnut filling. I plan to use whipped chocolate ganache filling and white chocolate ganache under the fondant (I understand it will hold up better than buttercream in heat). The reception is outside in September (I live in VA so there's no guarantee it won't be blazing hot). I also have to drive 2 1/2 hours to deliver this cake. So I have a few questions:

1. I want to flavor the filling with Nutella. Would that make it less stable?

2. Should I freeze the cake prior to travel? (I plan to keep the tiers separate and assemble at the reception)

3. Will my car's AC be enough for 2 1/2 hours, or should I keep the cake on ice?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Welcome to the forum!

There are far more experienced people than me on here, but let me try to help:

1. I've never used Nutella, but I know several people have with great success, so you should be fine with it.

2. Not sure about freezing a decorated cake, but I would definitely have it refrigerated.

3. As long as your car's AC is ice cold you should be fine. Also make sure to keep the cake out of direct sunlight. If the sun is coming in through the window, try to somehow block it.

Good luck!

I just wanted to second what the PP said, and also say refrigerate before hand and let it come to room temperature before you serve it.

Also hi because I live in northern VA.

Drove two tier buttercream cake 2 hours through Kansas last weekend. Temp was 101. Cake was in brown box and AC did great!

I agree with the above, but wanted to add one note. Nutella is delicious and will make a wonderful filling, but you should warn her about nut allergies. Nutella has hazelnuts in it and any guests with nut allergies should be made aware of it.

I'm in Richmond, and if I deliver using boxed cakes that come straight from the fridge they're fine to travel.

What kind of filling are you using the nutella in? It can soften some icings up too much.

Where are you delivering the cake to? If you have to drive on any kind of bumpy gravel roads like they have down near some of the plantation homes on the James you might want to transport the cake in sections and assemble on-site. I've travelled with cakes on those types of backwoods roads before and they can get shaken up and shift if they're stacked.

I'd personally use a thin coat of shortening-based icing (50/50 shortenting /butter) instead of the ganache under the fondant. If it's going to be a hot weekend then I wouldn't trust the ganache not to melt.

Maybe also use memory foam under the cake to absorb any vibrations while driving

I agree with costumeczar. I would not use a chocolate ganache under the fondant if the weather is going to be hot. Chocolate melts quicker than buttercream.

Chill yes, freeze no. Strange things sometimes happen when a cake thaws from the freezer, so get it cold, box it up to keep out the heat and sun and deliver in an a/c car.

Tami

I made a cake with white chocolate ganache in May when it wasn't super hot (also in VA), and it gave me fits! The white chocolate wanted to melt, even though the semi-sweet chocolate did fine. I also would recommend the buttercream, with at least half being shortening. I personally would follow everyone else's advice and refrigerate the cakes, and travel with them unstacked. That might make it easier just in case something happens to one of them.

I'm sure you will be fine though! Enjoy!

I knew this was the right place to go! I think I'll go with a hazelnut flavoring rather than Nutella, I didn't even think about allergies. I'll make a full list of ingredients available if the guests need to see it.

I will definitely try the 50/50 buttercream/shortening icing under the fondant, I was under the impression that ganache would be more stable than buttercream in heat... I suppose that's different for white chocolate? I was definitely planning to transport the tiers separately and assemble them on arrival. It's a fairly simple cake. I will need to add some modeling chocolate branches when I get there, and about 30-40 gum paste dogwood flowers. The idea is to have branches "climbing" up the side of the cake, with some sticking out a bit with flowers on them to give it a little more dimension.

I will definitely post some pictures when it's finished, and I'll let you know how everything worked out! Thanks everyone!

Here's my finished product. Of course I got lost on the way there and had to stick all the decorations on at the last possible second, but everyone loved it! I ended up using cooked chocolate pudding for the filling, with creamer instead of milk. I was able to get it there in my super-cold car and from there it was cut within 30 minutes, so no spoilage issues. I also went with the all-shortening Wilton recipe for buttercream, because I only used it as a dam and a crumb coat to help the fondant to stick.


Thanks again for the help!

Beautiful cake! I'm glad it went so well.

Your work is beautiful !!! Glad everything went well.