A friend of mine is always ordering foods from Neiman Marcus. I help enjoy some of the stuff.... always seems to come thru in good shape

Nancy

Here is a link that might be useful: Neiman Marcus Desserts

Use a styrofoam cooler. Like the ones QVC sends their stuff in. You could include ice packs..of course they use dry ice. I don't have any experience in doing it myself though.

I would make the cake a dense heave fruity cake, like an apple cake with a sauce in a separate contaiont to warm up and pour over. Perhaps a carrot cake baked in a bundt pan, with a container of cream cheese frosting....all packed in a cooler with dry ice and sent second day air.
Or you could send a home made angelfood cake, with a jar of home made lemon curd to be spooned over the top...no cooler needed if you "can" the lemon curd.
Linda C

Guess I read that too fast, I thought the poster was looking for the whole thing....missed that she was baking it herself.

Nancy

My sister made two recipes of the Spanish Bar Cake this weekend: it is moist, dense, spicy, fruity, and with just a white glaze icing, it would be easy to pack and ship.

Spanish Bar

2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. cocoa (I used Dutch process)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. allspice

Add: 1/2 c. oil
2 c. applesauce
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. raisins

Mix first 8 ingredients together in an electric mixer; mix well. Add next 3 ingredients. Raisins should be added last. Bake at 350 degrees in 9x13 inch pan for 30-35 minutes; tube pan 40-45 minutes.

You can finish with a plain white icing or sprinkle with power sugar.

If the lady is 50 or older, she may remember this wonderful taste from the A&P of "yesteryear."

I suggest shipping the cake in the cake pan. I'm not sure if you were thinking about a layer cake - that may be hard to ship. But if you make a cake in a 9 x 13 pan or a bundt pan, just ship it in the pan which would keep it intact. Here is a recipe for a cake to ship that I found with packaging suggestions:

Want to make someone who is far away from home very, very happy?! Make them a cake and send it to them. Maybe you heard Ben talk about this cake on the radio. Or maybe you just want to do something nice for someone who is a long way from home. This cake is easy to make, ships well and will just surprise the heck out of anyone who opens it up!

Easy Chocolate Cake For People Overseas

1 Stick Of Butter 4 Eggs
16oz Hershey Chocolate Syrup 1 Cup Flour
1 Cup Sugar 1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Vanilla Disposable aluminum pan for shipping

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and chocolate syrup and vanilla. Blend in flour and baking powder. Pour into a well greased 8" pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 60 min. or till toothpick shows done. Cool it completely.

Tips:

Bake in a heavy 8" pan (not in the disposable aluminum pan) and put on top of a cookie sheet in case it spills over. After it is cool, run knife around edges of cake to loosen and dump whole cake on top of a large sheet of saran wrap. Wrap well and place in the aluminum cake pan and wrap well again. You may want to use some bubble wrap, too.

We suggest you ship this in the UPS flat rate box (11 x 8½ x 5½) for a set price of $7.70 regardless of weight. Be sure to include standard customs forms, and you should be able to add a few goodies for no extra postage charge.

i ship cakes and (knock on wood) so far so good.

your best bet is to ice your sides smooth and then the depth of the cake, take a piece of parchment paper and wrap it around the sides of the cake. overlap it a bit at the end and tape it. then get a piece of corrugated paper sized to an inch or more above the depth of the cake so that it doesn't interfere with the top decorations. overlap that and tape it. then take two cake circles the next half or full size and secure them and then wrap that whole thing in saran wrap.

place your cake in a bakery box that fits your cake. put the bakery box into your mailing box. make sure that box is just an inch or two bigger -- all the way around -- than your bakery box. in between the spaces put those packing peanuts, foam or something else that won't allow it to slide.

another method is to put it into a tin, if you can find one that accomodates your cake. or, based on the type of cake, send it in a spring form pan - top it with a cake circle, etc.

i'm sure you know that the PO does offer overnight. and remember to make your box fragile and this side up and perishable so they show it respect.

i think the flourless chocolate cake would be a great cake to send. i'll email you my address

good luck
maryanne

maryanne says, "i think the flourless chocolate cake would be a great cake to send. i'll email you my address"

:)

Sue :
Can you call a bakery near her home and ask if anyone could deliver a Cake.?
Priority Mail would be about $8 to $10
Lou

Years ago I sent a carrot cake to my brother when he was stationed in Germany. I packed it in freshly made pop corn, no salt or butter, and he said it was good when he got it. Said the pop corn was good also.

Claudia

You ladies are terrific...thanks for all the recipes, helpful suggestions and moral support. I will check about the bakery tomorrow, that is a good idea. The town nearest to her is very very small but it is worth a try.

I do want the cake to be special ...I had a 4 gal rose of her name shipped to her but it was sent to the wrong zip code and now has been redirected by UPS so who knows when it will be delivered to her and will be a miracle if it is still alive after being shipped on 4/29/08. I don't know if it was my fault or the nursery.

Thanks again so much,

Sue

Sue,

If making your own & shipping doesn't work...may I suggest trying one of these from QVC. I've ordered Balboa cakes in the past as birthday gifts to people that live far away from me. Everybody has said they were delicious. QVC has that shipping thing down perfect. Also, don't forget about the 30-day no questions asked guarantee...if anything does go wrong QVC will make it right without a hassle. I would be in serious trouble for gifts without QVC!

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Cakes Available from QVC

How about freezing the cake? Make your cake, frost it, then freeze the whole thing, frosting and all. By the time it gets to where it's going, it will have defrosted, while staying cool and fresh. It will also make it a little sturdier in the beginning.

I'm not sure how you would wrap it without it being a mess after defrosting though. I think the frosting would stick to any kind of Saran wrap or parchment after defrosting.

Food for thought.

I have sent sponge cakes for Passover when my kids were away at college using UPS two day delivery and they were fine. They were throughly cooled, then wrapped in plastic before putting in a box with packing peanuts and some other goodies. But they weren't frosted - which would make packing more difficult. What earthlydelights suggests sounds best for that, but at this time of year, temperature could also be an issue. Buttercream doesn't do well at high temps.

By the time it was all packed-up, IIRC the shipping was something over $30 so if you can find a bakery close by or one of those QVC cakes if their shipping is reasonable, it might cost less.