4

I am planning to make a white or dark chocolate mudcake and take it from Australia to India in a month's time. I also need to ganache and fondant the cake either before or after the flight. So, I need all the tips and help to help me take the cake safely to India.

So, based on the following, I would be grateful for any tips to help me travel with the cake:

  1. I will be baking a white or dark chocolate cake in Australia where it is currently winter and I'm taking the cake to India where it will be hot and humid. I cannot bake in India as they have no oven there and it is a single tier cake.

  2. I want to ganache the cake and I am really really keen on doing that here in Australia as all my tools are here and its just easy to do it in my kitchen. I think it will be ok as far as the food-safety of ganache goes until I reach India as the temperatures should be cold to cool. Once I reach India, it will be in a warm temperature once I get out of the airport and probably till I reach home, about 1-2 hours.

  3. I will be taking a couple of packets of fondant with me with the basic tools I require to cover the cake.

My ideas are:

  1. Take the ganached cake with me in a hand luggage, like a cake carrier, but I have no idea if that's a good idea.

  2. If I can't ganache the cake here, take the cake in the baking tin and ganache in India.

  3. Design the cake so that if I take a ganached cake and the gaanche loses its smooth finish, the cake still looks good - pebble stone look on the fondant.

I hope this helps answering the question.

Divi
  • 4,756
  • 23
  • 65
  • 95
  • 5
    I don't know if you are allowed to do it at all. Many countries have limitations on what products can be imported - for example the EU forbids dairy. Check the customs rules before you get into trouble. – rumtscho Jul 04 '14 at 11:50
  • @rumtscho: Thanks. As long as I declare it, I should be fine. I should be ok importing the cake, just need to know how to package it – Divi Jul 04 '14 at 11:52
  • 2
    IMO, I would be surprised if you were allowed to pass custom with a cake. Check with your airline and customs rules of India and Australia. – Max Jul 04 '14 at 13:18
  • Super question! I hope that an answer would be also useful for those who, like me, have problems carrying a cake for a 5 minutes bike ride; and it will not simply state that it's impossible due to flight regulations... – Giovanni De Gaetano Jul 04 '14 at 14:08
  • 3
    @giovanni you could ask that particular question. I am a bit doubtful that the precautions you'd take in an airplane for some number of hours would be the same as on a bike for five minutes. – Kareen Jul 04 '14 at 17:47
  • @Kareen I actually share your point of view; but the web is full of possible strategies for this situation, what I think is missing is an analysis of what could go wrong (which is always a surprise!); and I don't think that the two problems are totally independent... – Giovanni De Gaetano Jul 04 '14 at 20:15
  • Very curious: why do you want to TAKE a cake to India? Why not just make it there? I am from India and I haven't generally encountered a deficiency of baking supplies however exotic (exotic wrt India). – dearN Jul 05 '14 at 14:15
  • @drN: I've already mentioned in the question that I won't have an oven in India, so I can't really bake there. – Divi Jul 05 '14 at 14:25
  • @Divi Oops, that comment got lost in the text! `:)` – dearN Jul 05 '14 at 14:33
  • You might consider asking this question on travel.stackexchange. – Carey Gregory Jul 06 '14 at 04:06

1 Answers1

1

If you are allowed to take the cake you can do the following:

1) Ganache the cake after you reach India, preferably indoors as it will melt as you take it along the road.

2) To take the cake along with you during the time of your flight just put it in a ziploc bag and seal it well and it should remain intact and not go bad after you arrive, However, make sure the cake has no form of frosting or anything that has a possibility of melting even remotely.

John Reese
  • 166
  • 5
  • I definitely am not going to frost it with anything other than ganache coz I know the risks of buttercream, cream-cheese, etc. frostings. I really wanted to ganache before going to India, but I'm open to other ideas – Divi Jul 05 '14 at 00:03