Okay, this is really just to vent, but I know you guys will have some suggestions. I can't decorate cake that I've made the same day!! I made a cake yesterday for my MIL's birthday and filled it with custard (my first time using custard). I got up early this morning to cover it with fondant and decorate for the party tonight, but it literally kept sliding sideways when I smoothed the fondant.

So, I whipped up another cake and tried to fill it with something else and cover it, but it went sooooo wrong. So, I tried another. Still problems (crumbly and crooked, etc.) I'm so glad this wasn't for a customer! What do you guys do when you need something last minute? I'll admit that I'm a bit of a perfectionist and should just try and make do with what I have, but I'm so frustrated! Is it possible to bake and decorate the same day?

It's possible, but I personally try not to. I get much better results when I spread the cake production out over a few days. I simply don't do "last minute" orders, except maybe for family, but even then I've been known to decline if I don't think I'll have time to get good results..

I would suggest if you MUST do it all in one day, thoroughly chill (or even freeze) your cakes before you torte and/or fill. and then chill again before the crumb coat.

I've done all-in-one-day cakes and I throw them in the freezer, even for just a couple of hours (heck, I've put cakes in the freezer for 30 minutes and it makes a big difference!). Stablizes them and makes them easier to handle and work with. They thaw in minutes so it doesn't delay.

Thanks you guys. It really never occurred to me to put them in the freezer just for a short time...the refrigerator maybe, but not the freezer. Guess I'm just paranoid about drying them out, but I guess the freezer would be much better than the fridge in that regard.

We have a blast freezer. 190 to 20 below in 10-15 minutes. Its genius.

When wrapped and thawed properly, freezing does not dry out a cake.

Had a bride in on Sunday for a sampling. 2 of the sample cakes came from my freezer ... one was baked 90 minutes before she got there. At one point I got the opportunity to ask, "Can you tell which of these cakes came out of the freezer?" All 3 people got it wrong ... they thought the frozen cakes were the "fresh" ones. And it happens all the time.

So Indydebi, How do you wrap and defrost your cakes? Do you wait till they are completely thawed to decorate?

I wrap mine 2 or 3 times in plastic wrap (going in opposite directions from the prior wrap) and then once in aluminum foil and then I stick them in the giant or xxl size ziplock bags and get the air out and then pop into the freezer. I typically bake & freeze about a week in advance, but I had a cake that had been in the freezer for a month that I took to a party and you would have never known it had been in the freezer that long. I also start to ice when frozen..I dont let them thaw or it kind of becomes a mess.

There's a local bakery who advertises that their "wedding" cakes are never frozen ... AND ... you can order one 24 hours before your wedding. My coworkers bought me a birthday cake from there because I just HAD to taste this bakery's cakes ... and my supv had to take it back because it was so frozen we couldn't cut it!

BTW, it tasted just like every other bakery cake I'd ever tasted.[/quote]

BUSTED!

funbun, right on! The ironic part is my coworkers were buying the cake from there beause they wanted to show THIS CAKE MAKER just why everyone swoons over this bakery's cakes. And the ONE cake that was suppose to impress a fellow caker was all screwed up!

Okay Indydebi and all! I think you've converted me... I'm not having another day like today! But I do have another question. When you take the cakes out of the freezer and thaw and then ice, do you have to let the cakes "settle" before covering them in fondant to prevent bulges? Or does the freezing/thawing process kind of take care of that?

I always try to freeze my cakes. Even if its only for an hour or so...

it is so hard to handle a cake that has never been frozen....too unruly!

the freezer is your friend!