Carrying a bakery cake safely & comfortably

November 10, 2024 12:38 AM

My mission today is to get a birthday cake from a bakery unsmushed to my destination. I'm taking the train for 2 hours. The cake comes in a typical cardboard box with twine and plastic bag. Whenever I have to carry a cake long distance it ends up getting smashed. Trying to figure out a way to limit jostling due to clumsiness & limited hand dexterity.

Maybe I can put a square of cardboard in the bottom of bag to reinforce it? I also have a baggu bag I can use - it's unstructured and has a wide base.
I have access to craft supplies and a 99 cents store in case anyone has diy ideas.

posted by starlybri to Food & Drink (9 answers total)

Don’t carry it using bag handles, make sure the box and base is sturdy enough and carry the box with both hands. No jostling. Anything else you have to carry is going to do so much better being carried in a bag and jostled around than a cake.
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:42 AM on November 10 [1 favorite]

Get a sturdy cardboard box that fits in the bottom of your baggu bag to give it structure. Put the cake box in there and use the plastic bag, plus some additional padding like crumpled junk mail or other plastic bags stuffed in any extra space between the cake box and your sturdier box.

Try to hold the bag steady by looping both handles over your forearm, one near your wrist an d one near your elbow, and keeping your arm bent across the front of your body when walking. Your other hand goes underneath for stability, but most of the strength is from your bent arm.

It’s a bit silly but, wear your puffiest coat to create the impression of a slightly larger bubble of personal space.
posted by Mizu at 2:01 AM on November 10 [4 favorites]

I like using my LL Bean tote bags to transport things like cakes as the firm structure of the bag means the box doesn’t start to shift and turn so much. Maybe a friend has one you could borrow?

(Is it too late to order from a bakery closer to the event?)
posted by raccoon409 at 4:45 AM on November 10

I have carried cakes on public transportation in Seoul with no damage to the cakes. The two keys are:

1. Sturdy box that can withstand the pressures of a packed subway train
2. Cake is secured to a stiff cake board so it doesn’t move around in the box. This is usually done by putting a dollop of frosting on the cake board (typically stiff cardboard made to look decorative) before placing the cake on top. This is something that should be done by the bakery or cake maker. The cake board should be the size of the box, but the cake board should be larger than the cake, so the cake is not touching the sides of the box.

You need both, as even if you get the sturdiest box to carry the cake in, if the cake slide around inside the box it’s going to get smashed.
posted by needled at 5:12 AM on November 10 [8 favorites]

Do you have a Walmart or dollar store near you to get a cheap round cake carrier (if that's the shape of your cake)? Walmart lists one for around $6. I got one years ago and use it all the time though it does take up some space on a shelf.
posted by Elsie at 5:17 AM on November 10 [3 favorites]

needled has it, I think. The bakery should have the cake already on a cake board that matches the footprint of the cake itself, but if you ask them ahead of time, they would probably also be able to give you 1-2 extra of the boards that are the next size or two up (these are cheap cardboard things that are bought in bulk). Ask them if rather than dropping the cake into the standard tight-fitting flimsy cake box, they could instead stack it on top of a couple of the bigger boards and secure with some circles of masking tape between the boards.

Then on the pickup day, bring your own rigid and roomy container for transport, like a cardboard shipping box for a rectangular cake or a dollar-store wastebasket/ laundry basket for a round cake. Also bring some packing tape to make "handles" to lower the board and cake into your rigid container, and you should have a total package that you can carry in your baggu, set down on the floor or seat of the train, etc., with relative security.
posted by Bardolph at 9:00 AM on November 10

Do you shop at Costco ever? Costco in my area keeps a big bin of their discarded cardboard produce pallets, boxes and containers for people to take for free and reuse. I use them to take food to community events. The pallets don't give you complete, enclosed coverage, but they give you a solid platform to carry things on, with a little protection at the edges to keep things from sliding off.

That might or might not work for you, depending on the size of your cake.
posted by gimonca at 9:56 AM on November 10

Presumably too late to be useful, but I carried a cake in a milk crate recently and it worked really well.
posted by hoyland at 2:21 PM on November 10 [2 favorites]

OP how did your travels go? Did the cake arrive safely? Were the celebrations enjoyable? Did some rude stranger shove you and make the cake splat sadly all over the train tracks?
posted by Mizu at 1:01 AM on November 13