Monday, May 16, 2011

THE FLYING CAKE



You know that feeling of relief you get when
a looming project that has weighed heavily
on your mind is finally complete?

Well I feel that relief right this very moment.

The cake is gone, on it's way and out of my hands.

I haven't heard yet if it got there safe and sound,
but you can be sure if it hadn't I would have
definitely heard by now. The bride called me
already first thing early this morning and she
called me twice yesterday. Poor thing! It
must be torture not to be able to even see
what your cake looks like and to envision
it being moved around and loaded on the
plane by strangers, hoping that everyone
is being careful with it.

My husband came to my rescue yesterday and
built me a box out of thin plywood to enclose
the cake for transport.

I put the cake on white foam core and we then
adhered that down to a piece of plywood that
was cut to fit it. This gave a very sturdy base
so the cake wouldn't be bent or tweaked as
it was being moved. Other than tipping it,
I think tweaking the base is the worst thing
for a tiered cake because it causes the layers
to shift which can crack the icing and move the
decorations out of place.

I clearly marked on the box on all 4 sides
so anybody glancing at it would have a good
understanding about keeping everything
upright. I have no idea how many people
will have their hands on this thing at the
other end, so better to be safe than sorry.


Then my husband had the brilliant idea to
print a picture and tape it to the top of the
box so that anyone touching the box would
understand what is inside and know exactly
how fragile it is. Plus I put the ribbon for
the outside of the cake base in an envelope
for the bride to attach once the cake was
set up. I usually do that before delivering
the cake, but in this case it would have
had big holes in it from the screws in
the box.


The bride also ordered matching cupcakes, so
those went along in separate boxes...


...along with the decorated fish cookies on a
sealed platter for the groom:



Here is the official cake portrait right before being
sealed into the box:


All of the flowers were handmade and edible:



The flight was scheduled for a 10:30 departure, so after
an urgent phone call from me at 9:45 my husband came
home from the job site and quickly screwed the box to
the cake base:

and carried the heavy thing out to the car for me.
If you have never picked up a cake like this it
would probably surprise you how heavy all
of that butter and sugar can be!


Here we are at Harris Air with the goodies stacked
on a cart waiting to be loaded onto the plane:



The plane had just returned from a morning trip and
was still open on the runway:


A friend of ours was over at the airport, so he let us in
the secure area to check out the plane before they
reloaded it:



This is the front compartment where they told me
the cake would be sitting, but I don't think it was
going to fit. They had only 2 passengers scheduled
to fly, so they may have just put it in a regular seat,
I don't know, we didn't stick around to see.



Look at this beautiful plane! These planes don't look
this big when they fly by our window. They are very
busy now taking tourists all over the place for fishing,
hunting and flightseeing trips.


Another plane inside the hangar...


Fed Ex was coming in as we were standing there...






Coming back home over the bridge I saw there is a
cruise ship in town and we saw another one coming
on the horizon. The weather is very pretty and warm,
which always makes for a more pleasant visit.


Coming back by another harbor on the way home. I feel
very fortunate not to have to drive by concrete high
rises and strip malls to get home...



O.K., time to put my feet up for a couple
of minutes and take a refreshment break.

One more cake today and then I am finished!



3 comments:

Laura~peach~ said...

wow what a beautiful cake... i hope it made it safely and I love the beauty all around you :)

Caution/Lisa said...

No wonder the bride wanted you to make her cake! I can't wait to hear how the trip went.

I look at your pictures and then I think of the congestion in my neighborhood. Is it too late for me to relocate and start somewhere beautiful?

Niki said...

beautiful cake...I hope it made it there intact!!!

I'm happy not to have to drive by malls and such to get home as well...such a blessing :)

Have a wonderful day
Niki