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!