Hi Cakers!
I had to share this story! I met this girl halfway to drop off this cake. I was prepared to fix the cake in the back seat of her car. LEVEL. Well, she had something else in mind. She took the cake from my and placed it in her LAP in the FRONT passenger seat of her small car!
I was freaking out!! I told her that traveling with a cake like that, not level, could cause issues. She said she was not worried and it would be fine?!?
Okay, have it your way. She told me later in the week that it made it fine. I about had a heart attack! On all my deliveries I am so cautious and worried something is going to happen to my cakes. But, this girl handled this cake with NO CARE at all!
Geesh
Here is the cake if interested
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2196259
Michael
That's a beautiful cake. Depending on how far they had to go it probably was o.k.
You can't sweat it if the customer chooses to ignore your words of wisdom
There have been times, given various things about the vehicle, that I actually recommend they hold the cake in a passenger's lap.
.......it's a one layer cake...(?!)
????
Ummm, one-layer cakes have delivery issues just like tiered cakes...
I'd also worry more if it was 2 or more tiers. At least I've never had any problems resulting from someone carrying a 1 tiered cake in their lap.
Call me strange but I prefer to hold my cakes. For some reason leaving them "alone" in the back freaks me out...lol!
I had the same issue awhile ago. A friend of mine shows up in an SUV to pick up the cake I made for her daughter's Bday. But instead of putting the cake in the back like I thought she was going to do, she wanted to put it on her husband's lap in the front seat!
I tried talking her out of it since the cake was tall and narrow and it was on a foam core cake board, which would be prone to flexing. But she kept saying it would be fine & she wasn't worried about it. Well, I was worried! They were driving from Tacoma to Seattle (about 25 miles) with a huge cake on her husband's lap when they had a perfectly good SUV with nothing else in the back. Anyway, turns out my worry was not in vain. She told me the next day that the cake had started to cave on one side by the time they got it to the hotel that night. Oh how I wanted to say an "I told you so".
I'd prefer to carry on lap too! Especially if it's one tier... the last time i drove a one tier cake it slid across the the back of my truck. I assumed it wasn't heavy enough.
I use those non skid shelf liners in the housewares department.. they are like $1 a roll and I cut it to the size of the box and put it underneath and it works awesome! No slipping at all
I ditto what Leah_s says ..I always set my small cakes in the front seat properly levelled etc.....in a box of course but I rarely have customers put it in the back hatch/trunk and never in the back seat...I still worry sometimes though...
The vast majority of my pick up customers prefer to hold the cakes. I've put 3 tier cakes, castles, tiered cakes with do-dads on people laps and sent them on their merry way. I had one customer hold a cake on a 4 hour trip. As long as the person driving isn't holding the cake it's no biggie.
i certainly prefer to hold my cakes too. I act as a shock absorber for them and feel much better. Though with wedding cakes, i take them in separate boxes and assemble on site, so I haven't transported anything taller than 3 tiers on my lap.
Call me strange but I prefer to hold my cakes. For some reason leaving them "alone" in the back freaks me out...lol!
Oh you and me both. I'll put larger 3 tier and above on the floor, but smaller than that, and I'm hands on the entire drive.
I use those non skid shelf liners in the housewares department.. they are like $1 a roll and I cut it to the size of the box and put it underneath and it works awesome! No slipping at all
Ditto. I love the non skid liners and leave one in my car at all times. The cake stays put and zero movement.
You shift though... you lean and bounce without even realizing you do. I put cakes, boxed, in the cargo area of my vehicle that is draped in a sheet with non skid material under it. If it's a pick up I tell people ahead of time to make sure they have a vehicle big enough to handle the cake box. Every cake gets boxed up, so if you have a 14" base board (so an 11" base tier max) you are getting a box that is 14" wide and about 20" tall if it is a tiered cake... maybe bigger. No one is holding that on their lap. Single tiered cakes I will place on the floor of the backseat on the passenger side. It's nice and level there. I also have a package of cheap rags that I can grab and use to level a cake on a back seat if needed. A roll of papertowels works well too, but they are expensive to just give away... LOL. It works well if they come in a tiny car even though I told them it wouldn't work.
You shift though... you lean and bounce without even realizing you do. .
Agreed! =)
This was the point I failed to make. I also use those shelf liners to prevent shifting in the back.
Thank you for the input on this topic folks! Looks as though more people do the lap thing than I thought.
=)
I am going to be the odd person out here and say that I carry tiered cakes on my lap all the time. I do this because I have a very small vehicle and there is not enough space to set one level on the floor. I just carried a wedding cake on my lap and my husband drove through a snow storm so we could get a wedding cake to the venue. I have never had any problems.
I've carried up to three tier cakes on my lap, no dramas. While it's certainly not my preferred method, sometimes it's the safest place for it. My main concern would not be movement, but heat if you were going far with it on a lap - obviously that's a warm place for it to be, and if it was a soft buttercream or something heat-sensitive, then a longer distance might affect it. But a short trip with a one tier would not bother me at all.
I always put the cake in my lap, while my husband drives
I've done it up to a 6 layer cake, lol
crazy I know, but it had to be assembled before the event...
BUT I always tell people when picking up their cake to put it on a flat surface because its safer....LOL I don't follow my own advice...
Jodi
If at all possible I prefer to hold them in my lap, BUT I know when to lift, shift, balance and to act as the "shock" absorber. Most "regular" people don't understand this and it could be a problem. Big tiered cakes, will always sit on the non-skid mat in the back of the van.
Single tiered cakes are fine... really. Make sure that you secure it to the base board so it doesn't shift and there would be no problem.
Cakes should be boxed for transport though, and holding a big box on your lap is not an easy feat. Of course you will always have the customer who is going to hold their cake no matter what you say, so just have your signed release form from them stating that they have been warned about proper transport and what happens to their cake once they leave your place and you are covered. I tend to put the fear into them... LOL... it works. Once they hear that they are on their own should their cake fall due to them holding it against my advice they usually agree to put it in the back.
I have to admit, I have carried up to a 3-tier right in my lap. I dang sure would have done it with a 1-tiered cake.
God Bless those who hold tiered cakes in your lap!
More Power to you!
My luck, it would tip over all over me...=)
Michael
I don't worry over 1 or 2 tiers. I had a girl pick up a cake from me
a 3 tier baby shower for her sister. She informed me she was taking it to Indiana. Okay thats A state away. I live on the West Virginia border.
I she called me about 7 hours later to tell me she made the trip fine. No cracks or problems. She scared the hell out of me when she picked the cake up. She just set it in the back of her car with her luggage. I told her when she leaves my driveway it all in her hands.
I don't have a vehicle with a hatch back (yet!) so I always carry mine in my lap while hubby drives. The last one was a 4 tier that we had to travel for 30 minutes to deliver. Man, that thing was heavy, but I used SPS and never had a problem.
Karen
Put a level on your lap. Put a level on a car seat. It's not level.
It reminds of back in the day when people said a child was perfectly safe riding in a car on mommy's lap. Mommy would be able to protect the baby in the event of an accident.
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