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How to Transport a Cake 2000 Miles by Car and Airplane
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Sep 6, 2024
How to transport a cake confidently by car or airplane, anywhere you may travel for a special occasion! For my online cake decorating school click here: https://www.britishgirlbakes.com/online-courses For my online course on Cake Photography Like A PRO! click here: https://britishgirlbakes.teachable.com/p/cake-photography-like-a-pro To read a written version of this tutorial (with photos!) click here: https://www.britishgirlbakes.com/how-to-transport-a-cake-by-car-and-airplane/ SUBSCRIBE for a new cake decorating tutorial every week!
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From Austin to Yosemite or anywhere else you may travel for a special occasion
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With this technique you'll be able to transport a cake confidently, wherever you go
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Before you travel, bake your cake or cakes, and after they've cooled completely
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level them so that they're all flat, and divide them if you want to make more layers
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and you can do this with a serrated knife like a bread knife. I really recommend drizzling the cakes with simple syrup
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Simple syrup is just equal parts of water and sugar, simmered together until the sugar dissolves, and when it cools you can drizzling
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drizzle it all over the cakes to keep them really moist. This is a good idea if you're not going
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to eat the cake on the same day. Drizzle it over the whole cake layer, paying special attention to the
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edges because those will dry out the quickest. Now you have two options. You can wrap the layers
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in cling film or saran wrap them and then assemble the cake at your destination, or you can assemble it
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now. When you wrap layers, the goal is to seal them so that they don't dry out. So be generous with the
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wrap and ideally use two layers to make sure they're safe. sealed. You can, of course, do this with whatever cake flavors you like. I'm doing vanilla and
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chocolate here. Then put the layers in the freezer for at least 24 hours before you travel
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If you assemble the cake now before you travel, if you have a turntable with a non-slip mat
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that's great, but it's not essential. Layer your cake and your filling and you can spread
1:20
butter cream onto the cake layers or you can pipe it on, whichever you prefer. But if you're
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using a runny filling, like lemon curd, you'll need to pipe a ring of buttercream
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around the edge of the cake before spooning the filling in and that ring will hold the filling in place so it doesn't ooze out
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It's called a buttercream dam and you can see why. As you assemble the cake, make sure each layer of cake is directly above the previous layer
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so that the sides of the cake are straight, not leaning over to one side
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Press the top of the cake down and that will squeeze out any filling that might ooze out later
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and then use your offset spatula to smooth around the outside of the cake so that the sides are flat
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which will make it easier to frost later. Now wrap the entire cake in cling film or saran wrap, and you don't need to do this on the cake board, just the cake is fine
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To protect the cake, you're going to transport it in the cake pans that you used to bake it
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So slide one over the top of the cake, and if the cake is tall, use another cake pan to protect the other half of the cake
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Put the pans with the cake inside into the freezer for at least 24 hours
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If you're enjoying this tutorial, please click the thumbs up button to like it and subscribe to my channel for a new cake decorating tutorial every single
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week Just before you leave put the cakes in a cool box with ice packs and put the cool box in your suitcase I share the rest of the tools you need to pack later in this tutorial If you flying having the cakes in your suitcase means less to carry through the airports and on the flight or flights
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I've got three cakes in the cool box in my suitcase and you'll see the cakes will stay frozen while you travel
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There are still ice crystals on this cake pan after 12 hours of travel
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So until you get to your destination, the cakes will stay firm and will hold their shape, so they won't get squished in your suitcase
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and being snug inside the cake pans will keep an assembled cake extra secure
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At your destination, put the cakes or the entire cool box in the freezer if the cake is for another day
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or in the fridge to defrost overnight if it's for the next day. When you're ready to decorate the cake, unpack your turntable if you brought it
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or improvise, like I'm doing here with this spinning spice rack and a piece of cardboard
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You'll need an offset spatula, a frosting smoother, and a cloth or paper towel
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I've made a batch of my four minute butter cream here, but you can absolutely make this before you
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you travel and put it in a Ziploc bag in the cool box with the cake layers, which I did with this
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blue butter cream. What you definitely need to bring or go and buy is a cakeboard for each cake. These
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are cardboard rounds by Wilton. I like to use cakeboards at least two inches bigger than cakes
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to leave room for decorations and to hold on to when you're carrying the cake. But for tier cakes
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for the upper tiers I trim the boards to be exactly the same size as those cakes. More on that
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in a minute. I'm taping this board onto my makeshift turntable so it doesn't slide around, and
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and notice this hole in the middle, which is optional, and I'll explain it later. Spread a dollop of buttercream onto the cake board to attach your first cake layer
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centering it on the cake board and then spread or pipe a layer of filling on top
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I'm using my four minute buttercream and the recipe link is in the video description. Give the cake a crumb coat, which is a very thin layer of frosting to completely cover the cake
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and trap any crumbs that come off. I have a tutorial on another turntable hack using a microwave
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and I've put that link in the video description. I find it easiest to frost cakes when they're cold from the fridge because they're firmer and less crumbly than when they're at room temperature
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If you're making a tier cake, you'll need to give the rest of your cakes a crumb coat too. Let the crumb coat set for about 30 minutes in the fridge before applying a final coat of frosting
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so that the final coat sits on top of the firm crumb coat and doesn't mix into it
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and that way you won't get any crumbs in your final coat of frosting. For tier cakes, it's easiest to stack the cakes when they're cold and very firm
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so after frosting them I put them in the fridge for a few hours before stacking them
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Then you need boba straws or wooden dowls, but the boba straws are great because they're so easy to cut
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Push one all the way down to the bottom of the cake until it hits the cakeboard and then pinch it where it sticks out of the cake pull it out and cut it there and now it be exactly the same height as the cake
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Use it to measure and cut three more straws the same height and these will be like pillars that support the next tier of cake
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Push them into the cake in a square formation with at least two inches or five centimeters between the straws
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but keep the square small enough that the next cake will be sitting on top of all of the straws
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Cut the board around the top tier of cake so that it's exactly the same size as the cake
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Since the cake is cold, the frosting is firm so you won't damage it
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You could cut this before frosting the cake, but then you'd need another board to frost it on
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so this is how I do it with minimal materials. Notice this little hole in the middle of the cake board, and I'll explain it in a minute
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Spread a little bit of butter cream over the straws, which will act as glue, and now place the top tier onto the bottom tier
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Center it by sliding it around and then press down to secure it
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As you can see, having a cold cake is really essential for this
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Now the straws will hold the cake up, supporting the little board that the top cake is on
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The little board under the top tier will be visible, so use a piping bag to pipe a ring of butter cream around it
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and the piping bag can have a round tip or a star tip or just cut the end of the bag off and use it with no tip at all
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The shape really doesn't matter. Use your frosting smoother to scrape off the excess butter cream you just piped
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and flatten the rest of it against the side of the cake, filling in the gap between the two tiers
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and hiding the cake board in the middle. If you're piping a border around the bottom of each cake
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later, which I'm going to do, you don't have to worry too much about this. If you're going to use
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gel colours, make sure you put them in a Ziploc bag before you travel in an airplane
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because of cabin pressure, which will almost definitely make them leak. I'm using Wilton white
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icing colour mixed with gel colours to make an edible paint, and then dipping a paintbrush into each colour and flicking it over the cake to make colourful splatters
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I love this technique because it's fun to do and an unusual decoration of a cake
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and there's really no skill to perfect. I'd recommend putting a disposable tablecloth or a towel down around the cake first so you don't get paint everywhere
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because as a side note, on this trip I'm staying with my in-laws and this mess is how to make them hate you
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You can wipe any smudges of buttercream or paint off the cakeboard with a cloth or a paper towel
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and then for piping, this is an open star tip and buttercream tinted with blue gel that I made it home and froze in a ziplock
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bag and brought with me in the cool box to save me some time tinting buttercream here
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I like to pipeboarders around the bottom of both tiers to cover up the join and any visible
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cake board and to add some extra texture and colour and detail really quickly Now this is important If you travelling a long distance it a good idea to stick something down through the cakes to hold them steady
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and using just a wooden skewer is fine for two tiers. Centre it over the top tier, and then
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use a pair of scissors or anything flat and strong to knock the skewer down through the top cake
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and through the cakeboard underneath the top cake, and then down through the bottom cake too
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That's where that little hole in the middle of Wilton cakeboards comes in handy. But the pointed end of a wooden
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skewer will poke through a cardboard cake round without a hole too. When you feel the
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skewer hit the cakeboard at the very bottom, pull it up high enough to be able to cut it at the
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point where it stuck out of the cake, and then you can either spread some buttercream over the top
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or use cake to conceal it. I'm using some artificial flowers on top of the cake, t them and
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washing the stems, and then poking them into the top of the cake to make a little bouquet. I like to do this
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the day before an event, to reduce stress on the big day, and more importantly, so that the frosting and any
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decorations have time to set in the fridge so they're as stable as possible before any
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vibrations or sudden movements inside a car. To transport cakes you can place
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them on a flat surface of the car on the floor or if you have a box that will keep it
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cool which is important here where it's over a hundred degrees. This is a styrofoam
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cooler and I'm putting a piece of nonslet matting down first to prevent the cake
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from sliding around and then lowering the cake in. If you put a cake onto the
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seat in a car. The slanted surface will keep the cake at an angle which is not ideal, so use a towel or a
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sweater or a purse or a bottle or whatever you have to level the box so it's sitting flat
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Okay, let's go, another 150 miles in the car, along some very bumpy roads and with some
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sudden braking in traffic, including one time that the styrofoam cooler slammed forwards into the
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glove box and I was sure the cake was destroyed. But here we are in Yosemite and the cake has
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survived and is looking gorgeous with this beautiful scenery in the background. If you're looking for
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tips on how to take photos of cakes, in surroundings like these or in your kitchen, I teach an online
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course on cake photography like a pro, sharing how to create stunning DIY backgrounds, great lighting
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with natural or artificial light, how to stage props, different photo angles and setups, taking
10:00
photos with a phone or camera, and how to adjust focus and lighting with both, how to take action
10:05
shots without motion blur, photos for social media and video, editing, everything you need to know to take amazing photos of your cakes to impress your friends and family
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or bring in more cake orders or grow your Instagram or Facebook account. The link for the course on my online cake school is in the top of the screen and in the video description
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Thank you for watching
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