Cake Transportation/Setup

SaintPaulGal

Cake Transportation/Setup: How hard is it?

Long story short, there is a bakery that is very sentimental to my FI.  They are local, but out in the 'burbs.  Our venue in the city center is outside of their delivery zone. How complicated is it to transport and set up the cake ourselves?  Not planning on a super crazy intricate cake, just something simple and attractive that will feed 150-ish.  

Anybody with experience want to chime in on what to expect?  If it is terrible I will try to "bribe" them to deliver outside the zone, but they already said no so I imagine it would either be impossible or very expensive.

kaos16

can you get a small, easier to transport, cake for display and cutting and then sheetcakes to cut from the kitchen?

cowgirl8238

I would think that a cake for 150 is going to be a tiered cake...I doubt it is easy to travel with one (although I never tried).  I will say when we took home our top round from our reception we had to drive about 25 minutes in 80 degree heat, and the icing fell off the side of the cake because it got too warm in the car.

I would see if they can transport it for the fee...otherwise maybe you can use a more local bakery for the wedding cake and get either a smaller "grooms cake" or your first anniversary cake from them instead.  A single round is easier to deal with then a huge cake.

JaxInBlue

I'd be worried.  My parents used to be in the wedding cake business. Transportation for a 150 person cake will be hard unless, as kaos suggested, you get a small stacked cake and then sheet cakes.

Concerns you'd need to think about:
- Transport time and weather.  Heat can make a cake sweat. When a cake sweats, the structural integrity is comprised.
- Road conditions. Bumpy roads, lots of stopping/starting, sharp turns - all might mean repair work.
- Set-up. Some cakes can travel fully decorated and ready to go. Often though, the baker is putting final touches on at the site, fixing cracks, adding the flowers/topper. Are you comfortable doing that? Also, decorated cakes can be heavy. Are you prepared to walk a cake through your event space? Go upstairs or take an elevator or navigate whatever is between where you park and the room?

You'd be better off asking this bakery if you can pay an additional delivery charge or using this bakery for something like your rehearsal dinner or first anniversary cake, where the scale is smaller. If this bakery is a must have and they won't delivery for additional charge, I'd go the route kaos suggested.

SaintPaulGal

Thanks for the feedback!  I will try hard to get the bakery to deliver.  If they absolutely, positively won't then I can do a Plan B of the smaller cake plus sheet cakes.  I would love a big tiered cake, but I care more that my FI gets the cake that means a lot to him.  I'm not kidding: the happiest I have ever seen him in our almost 5 years together was when I got him a cake from that bakery for his birthday the first year we were together.  That means more to me than the aesthetics of a "traditional" wedding cake.

southernbelle0915

I only have one story about transporting your own cake and it'll probably make you anxious. My dad transported a cake for my cousin's wedding. Hot day, whip cream base frosting - he had the a/c pumping as high as it would go and ALMOST made it. A car abruptly stopped in front of him and the cake tipped over the back of the car. By the grace of the man upstairs, some worker at the venue had taken a cake decorating class and fixed it to the point where you couldn't really tell. No one told the bride or MOB until after the wedding..haha

Anyway, I would try to pay extra, like whatever they want (within reason) to deliver and set up at your venue. If they balk, maybe compromise - do a big tiered cake with a few fake layers that aren't as difficult to transport yourself and serve sheet cake. 

geebee908

Wilton also makes tiered cake stands which you can put individual cakes on. The cake stands are towards the middle of the page.

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/33835/display-stands.html

MesmrEwe

I'd first push to get the bakery to do the delivery for you even if it means an extra $150.  It's money well spent.  And, chances are, they've got a price they'll transport out of their main delivery area for.  

That said, I've transported cakes, the furthest was MSP to Omaha, but have also done many 4-hour trips to my family with cake.  My best quote is "Drive like a trucker with a 52' trailer" - you secure your load (hatch back works best), you make sure the climate the cake is being transported in is as ideal as possible (i.e. pre-chill to the coldest possible extent even if it means you're wearing a parka in summer), and you drive like you're transporting glass (slow down early, no hard stopping, keep a safe distance from you and the car in front of you, etc.)..  Have some sort of flat rolling cart available to get the cake from the vehicle to the cake table.  Remember it's going to be heavy AF.  Not impossible to lift, but it'll be heavy.  

As for set-up, a stacked cake can be constructed completely at the bakery and well supported.  Next to something that's a floating tier it's the easiest to transport/setup.  The hard part is the timing because most wedding cakes are set up in that window when your ceremony normally is.  Also, most decorators bring a "emergency repair kit" because fingers happen, temperatures, sudden stops, etc.  That's the other reason that even if it's an extra $150 it's worth it because you're not SOL if something happens in transit.  And, should something happen, remember - cake is meant to be eaten, it's not the end of the world.

lnixon8

Even with a smaller tiered cake... beware. One SIL asked me to pick up a cake for other SIL's baby shower. 2 tier, nothing crazy. The box did not have a lid and the sides did not even come up higher than the bottom tier. It was just for a shower so not a huge deal but but a 10 minute super slow drive still ended up with icing on my passenger seat and a slightly imperfect cake.

charlotte989875

My sister and I picked up a cake for a friend's wedding in a city about 90 miles away. We had some near misses with it on the on-ramps and cars stopping short. We never should have been asked to that thought, TBH. It was nerve wracking and we could have accidentally ruined her dessert. 

banana468

I'd pay extra for delivery.

hyechica81

ask them if they would deliver it for a fee. if they still say no go with a bakery closer to the venue. you could always get a smaller cake from the other bakery one that would transport well. hubby would still have his small cake that he really wanted. 

JediElizabeth

hyechica81 said:

ask them if they would deliver it for a fee. if they still say no go with a bakery closer to the venue. you could always get a smaller cake from the other bakery one that would transport well. hubby would still have his small cake that he really wanted. 

If you get a smaller cake as well, don't make it part of your wedding. Maybe get it for the two of you for your honeymoon or something, but you really shouldn't eat something different than what your guests are getting at your wedding reception. You should be hosting them all at the same level as yourselves.