Jay,
I am thinking out of the box here, you guys are thinking on making some kind of device, but, you can also hire a cake carrier! That will also take care of your "clumsiness", sorry, lack of grace <g>
Here you have some ideas of the type of cake carries I got in mind, taking into account the size of your cakes:
http://tinyurl.com/anax3or
http://tinyurl.com/7rfl8
"The five senses obstruct or deform the apprehension of reality."
Jorge L. Borges?
"Premature optimization is the root of all evil in programming."
Donald Knuth, repeating C. A. R. Hoare
"To die for a religion is easier than to live it absolutely"
Jorge L. Borges