Cake Delivery Tips and a CakeSafe Giveaway

Delivering a cake can be stressful and overwhelming, but it you prepare yourself both mentally and physically it can be a whole lot less painful! I have a few tools and tips to make this process go smoother. I have included affiliate product links to the items that I love and use personally. I hope you will consider using these links as a way of supporting the continuation of Tuesday Talks. For the video version of this post please check out my Facebook Page.

BUILD A SOLID CAKE

Starting with a solid cake structure, using proper support and a strong base board is key. Be sure to make a stable cake and use doweling to support any stacked tiers. My general rule for dowels is use one less than the diameter of the cake going on top. For instance, I use 5 dowels under a 6" round cake. I also use 3 skewers per tier to secure one tier to the next. (Youtube video coming soon!) I use 1/4" foam core boards under each tier and 1/2" foam core boards under the entire stands cake. These "Dallas Foam" boards are very strong and do not sag. They are also very easy to poke skewers through, but maintain their integrity. (They also work fabulous with the CakeSafe!!!)

HAVE A CAKE SUPPLY KIT

Always carry a cake kit with you. This kit has all those important tools to help you complete your decorating on site and repair any mishaps that might happen along the way. Here are a few of the tools I carry with me at all times:

Dowels, straws, and skewers

Scissors and dowels shears

Exacto Knife

Straight pins

Spatula

Fondant smoother

Paint brushes

Absolute Vodka or lemon extract

Powdered sugar and shortening in containers

Disposable gloves

Paper towels

Business cards

CAKE SPECIFIC SUPPLIES

In addition to the above tools, I bring along cake specific supplies:

Extra buttercream, fondant or modeling chocolate are a must for patching

Extra sugar flowers

Special decorations like pearls or sequins that might fall off during delivery

Catering sheet with cake flavors

Cake stands

Camera

Extra box for leftovers/saving the top tier

USE THE RIGHT TRANSPORTATION BOX Having a sturdy box to transport your cakes is yet another key component to making a flawless delivery. We've all seen those flimsy white cake boxes that can barley support a few cupcakes. Those may have been fine back in the day when cakes weren't as big, heavy, or elaborately decorated. And maybe there are still good for a few uses, but transporting the delicate tiers of a wedding cake requires something far more stable. Several years ago I thought stacking the cake on site was the safest way to transport my cakes, but I quickly realized it was really time consuming to stack on site, some designs crossed tiers making it difficult to assemble on individual unstacked tiers, and who wants a crowd of people watching your every move. Not mention that the afore mentioned white cake boxes often bumped into the sides of my perfectly iced cakes. SO I quickly looked for another option. I started stacking my wedding cakes prior to delivery, fully decorated. I place them in a large cardboard box and off I went. Often that was sufficient, but being in Colorado, I often travel 2 plus hours to get to the delivery location and sometimes it requires traveling up mountain sides. I needed something that could actually hold the cake in place within the box. Enter The CakeSafe!!! Now I eyed this beauty for many years before investing in The Cake Safe. Like so many, I was scared away from the price initially.