AAnyone who could help me out here I would appreciate it SOO much! I acquired a job as cake decorator( the only cake decorator and only person in the whole bakery with cake experience) in April. I have only held one job as a decorator and this was at a bakery that only did buttercream cakes. They used wooden dowels and cardboard rounds for their wedding cake support and put their cakes in the freezer to harden up for delivery. Which in turn would cause them to sweat as you all know. So that metheod of doweling, and freezing cakes came to be the only way I knew(I did switch to bubble tea straws though). Now that I am at this new bakery, I am not content using that method. It makes me feel uneasy, just becuse the support system isnt the best. I also can't stand the sweating and colors running down cakes. I also want to be able to offer fondant covered cakes but I cant freeze those. So Ive been researching sps. I see a lot of people order from bakery crafts. I've looked up bakery crafts and they don't offer a lot of info on the product. I am also worried I will have a big gap between plate and cake to have to fill with a large border. I usually prefer a smaller border. How about delivery? I had a cake fall over once, and delivering terrifies me especially because the bakery I work out of is surrounded by rolling hills and curvy roads. Would I be able to deliver with the cake disassembled? I really just need a new option. Bubble tea straws and cardboard just aren't doing it for me. Thank you so much inadvance!

Yes for sps to be efficient you need to bake your cakes over a certain height so you can trim consistently to the right height to avoid the gap. But that's not difficult considering the security and advantage and ease of using sps.

Could you switch to using a refrigerator to firm up cakes before delivery rather than freezing?

I use those big plastic boxes to deliver my cakes unassembled. You can get two small tiers in one bax and then each other tier goes in it's own box. similar to these boxes http://www.stacksandstacks.com/iris-square-plastic-container-box-28-qt-ss-sq. I just go to Target or Big Lots and measure and then you have great resueable very secure delivery protection.

When it's hot you can fill one with ice to keep all the 'passengers' nice & chilly.

Oh and use nubbly shelf liner to keep cakes from sliding in the boxes and to keep the boxes from sliding around during deliver too. Just cut three inch squares for cakes and maybe like 12 inch squares to put under boxes.I just keep a few 12 inchers in my car all the time--as well as a roll of paper towels which bridges the gap of a car seat perfectly. Anyhow a little trivia there.

I use cardboard boxes to deliver stacked cakes--I get them at the storage places--and I re-use these also--if it's hot I secure one of those reuseable blue ice freezer things inside so it won't hit the cake or anything. I wrap a paper towel around it to absorb any condensation avd drop that in a zip lock bag and secure it to the inside of the box. This will keep a chilled cake chilled in the hottest weather.

But for doweling, keep the bubble tea straws for small tiers. And for larger tiers you could use the 3/4 inch hollow dowel and of course cut them with the little hand held garden shear thing. Easy peasy then you can have any height cake tier. I also use the skinny straws too--I slide bamboo skewers inside for ultimate strength for little places like top tiers and sculptures.

I often use foam core instead of cardboard.

Ideas for you. Congrats on having a nice job. Enjoy it!!!

When/if you go to purchase plastic boxes measure and be aware of any appendages on the inside of the lid that could interfere with a cake--maybe even take some dummies --that would be the easiest--make sure things fit in there with enough clearance.

pardon my typos :)

*reuseable