Traveling far far away with cake

by Evan B
(Texas)

Hi Lorelie,

I stumbled upon your website yesterday and I have to say this is the most informational site I've found so far so I thank you for that! I actually have a couple of questions..

Q1. My friends asked me to make their wedding cake (so exciting) only problem is, their wedding is in Georgia and I live in Texas. My first thought was to fly with a few cakes pre-made in a sturdy box that I can either place in the overhead or underneath the seat. I was hoping to get your thoughts on this or anyone else that sees this!

I think I'm going to make the cake 12in-8in-6in. When I get to GA there will be a kitchen I can use, but I'll only be getting there 2 days before the wedding so I don't know if it would be completely out of control if I had to get there Thursday, bake and decorate all day Friday? If the cakes were frozen I feel like theoretically they should fly well right?

A1.

First of all thank you for the comment on my website. I am so happy that you are finding good information here, that is my goal with this site. If you have any suggestions as to how I can make it even better please let me know.

I would opt for flying with the cakes. I have flown with a cake before but never a wedding cake. Your cake is manageable due to the sizes of the tiers and the fact that they will be nice and cold.

You should probably ask the airlines about it too. The stewardesses were able to put mine up front. It was only one box though. I was flying from Ct to North Carolina and then driving a few hours.

Q2. The cake is going to be covered in fondant, but do you have an estimate of about how long buttercream is ok to be sitting out? If I filled the cake and crumb coated it on Friday and then covered it with fondant, would it be ok to sit out over night into Saturday? I know you can't refrigerate fondant, but I've never figured out how long you could leave butter cream un-refrigerated.

A2.

Buttercream will keep for a couple of days out of the fridge, but try to keep it in a cool place. The fondant will protect it somewhat. So your cake will be fine until Saturday.

Q3. Last question :) When stacking wedding cakes, how many layers is traditional for each tier? 2 or 3?
Thank you so much!!!

A3.

I usually do two layers each for every tier because the cakes are a little sturdier, but have done three layers. Traditionally I believe it's two and three layers, but have seen cakes with many more layers.

Thank you for visiting my site and please feel free to ask as many questions as needed. Good luck and I would love to see a photo of your finished cake. I'm sure my readers would also love that. You can submit it as another post.

Have Fun!!!!

Evan entered the Cake Decorating Contest