Extra-height cake boxes for layer cakes, stacked tiers and cakes with tall toppers, so the lid never touches the frosting. Front-opening or lift-off styles in paperboard or corrugated, with an optional window and your bakery’s logo printed on the sides.
Your time is very important to us so we have kept it short.
Buttercream doesn’t forgive. Bump it once on a low lid and that hour of piping is now on the cardboard. So Tall Cake Boxes are really about headroom, for layer cakes and stacked ones, the ones with sugar flowers or an acrylic “Happy 30th” stuck in the top, and the idea is the cake gets to the party looking like it did on your turntable.
Cake designers, custom bakeries and home bakers who do weddings and birthdays order these most. The common complaint we hear is simple: standard cake boxes stop at about 5 inches tall, and a four-layer cake with a topper is easily twice that.
Measure the cake on its board, then measure from the board to the tip of the highest decoration. That’s your inside height, plus about an inch of breathing room. Ballpark? Four layers on a 6 or 8 inch round tends to want 10 to 12 inches of box, and a two-tier with a topper can hit 14 or more.
The base should be about an inch wider than your cake board on each side. Less than that and it’s hard to get your hands in. More than that and the cake slides when the car brakes.
Most cake decorators learn this one the hard way. Lowering a tall cake into a deep box from the top is risky, because your knuckles end up right next to the frosting. A front-opening box (sometimes called a door-front style) lets you slide the cake in on its board from the side, then close the panel. It’s the most popular style for tall cakes for a reason.
Fondant cakes are sturdier, so a two-piece box with a tall lift-off lid is fine there (and it’s a fun reveal at the party, to be fair). We can cut a window in the front or the top of either style. Customers love peeking.
Light single-tier cakes are fine in SBS paperboard or kraft. Heavy two-tier, though, or any box that’s taller than it is wide, and we’d switch you to corrugated. E-flute. It’s still thin enough to print nicely but the walls stop bowing out, and if you’re curious about flutes there’s our piece on what corrugated packaging is.
Fridge-bound cakes sweat, so we’d laminate the outside to cope with the condensation and leave the inside bare so it can breathe a bit. Inks are soy or water based, by the way.
Big side panels mean room for a proper logo. One color on kraft is the classic look and it’s cheaper, while full color on white board is more for bakeries with a loud brand. Here’s a tip we pass on a lot: print care instructions on the back, keep it level, carry from the bottom, fridge until two hours before serving, that kind of thing. Fewer panicked phone calls on a Saturday.
Our team sets up the dieline and lays out your artwork at no extra cost, then sends a digital proof. Minimums are often around 50 boxes depending on the style, and the price per box drops as you order more. Production is 10 to 12 business days after approval, with free ground shipping in the USA.
For smaller cakes, see our cake boxes with logo, and for matching cupcake orders try our custom cupcake boxes. You’ll find the whole range in bakery packaging boxes, or send us your cake heights for a quote.
Cake board to the tip of the tallest decoration, plus an inch or so. That inch is what saves the topper.
For most tall cakes, yes. Sliding it in sideways keeps your knuckles out of the buttercream, which is pretty much the whole point.
In corrugated, with the base snug around the board, sure. Hold it from underneath. Floor of the car, not the seat.
Not sure which size you need? Our guide to cake box sizes lists the common ones and how to measure.
Plenty of customers order this alongside snacks boxes, waffle boxes, ice cream boxes and custom lollipop boxes. More styles are in bakery packaging boxes, and packaging cakes and pastries covers the common sizes.
