I have an order for a wedding cake, and just got a request for a graduation cake the same day. Both designs are fairly simple, (although always time consuming anyway). I usually bake the day before or 1 1/2 days at most, but thought if I coul bake in advance maybe I could do it. I hate to turn away a big order but I don't want to get in over my head either. Does anyone do more than one for the same day?

Of course people do more than one order per day!

You can bake months in advance if you freeze the cakes. People never know the difference if the cake is stored properly.

To freeze, bake and cool your cakes. Wrap in 2 layers of plastic wrap, followed by 2 layers of foil, and then place the wrapped cakes in a brown paper grocery sack. Having double insulation and an odor guard (the bag absorbs freezer odors) will keep the cake perfectly preserved. When you are ready to decorate the cake, bring it out of the freezer the night before and leave it, wrapped, on the counter to thaw.

Happy baking!

Yes you can bake ahead of time and freeze the cakes but wrap them tightly then freeze.. I always happen to get last minute orders from my family.. sometime 3 for one day.. I do them but it is time consuming when that happens.. you can even freeze after they are frosted they do this in grocery stores.. About 1-2 days for frosted cakes. up to a month on non frosted.

Your cakes will be fine for 6 months frosted or unfrosted. Some people say up to a year, but my personal threshold is 6 months.

I have an annual banquet I do which requires about 100 8" round cakes, which are centerpiece cakes on every table. I bake, fill, and frost months in advance, and the cakes are always amazing, if I do say so myself.

As the others have said certainly you can do it following their advice
Do as much work ahead as you can. Make flowers or other decorations & dry or store in frig or fzr. Make & color you icing - store in frig or fzr.
Plan ahead.......
Make up all the boards to be used. Gather your support system parts......think, plan and be ready. It will take much of the stress off of you.

When you bake ahead and freeze to be used at a later date. Do you cool the cakes until they are cold or do you wrap them while they are warm in plastic wrap?

If you wait until they are cooled are you supposed to level them at that time or level after you defrost?

I do not wrap hot cakes. I don't there's anything wrong with doing so, but I just let mine cool to room temperature in the pans and then turn them out, level them, wrap them, and freeze them. You can also leave them uncut if you wish. I level them so I can stack them neatly in my upright freezer.

What you DO NOT want to do is stick hot cakes in your freezer. That is bad for your freezer and bad for the contents of your freezer, because it reduces the temperature inside the freezer.

Your icings can be made ahead of time also, as well as some fillings.

As far as freezing, the only cake recipes of mine that I don't have great luck freezing are my "yellow butter cakes". I mean they're not awful after freezing, but the texture is just not the same as fresh baked. I wouldn't sell it to a paying client.

Not sure what recipe you use, but maybe if you've never frozen it before, do a trial run if you have time. I'm glad I experimented with mine because I now know not to freeze that particular cake.

Good luck!


I let my layers cool before freezing, I don't level until I defrost.

Everything posted works great.

do put a box of baking soda in the freezer or filter charcol (used in fish tanks) to absorb food smell. You may not smell it but the smell can be their and get into the flavor of your cake.

Thanks you so much for all the info. I never freeze my cakes but may give it a try. I do bake from scratch and use butter cakes. I'm pretty sure the wedding cake is going to be a vanilla butter cake, so I may experiment, if it passes my husbands taste test, i'm good to go.

How many days before the event do you usually take them out of the freezer?

Do you all use a simple syrup? I never do because my cakes seem to stay fresh for a while but in this case needing extra days to decorate should I use a syrup?

thanks again

I personally hate simple syrups and never use them. If your cakes are moist on their own you don't need them.

The cake I am going to bake this weekend and freeze is WASC - anyone else freeze this one?

to all you who freeze, are you baking from scratch or box? Im a little worried about dkelly and the post about the butter cake not freezing well. Most of my cakes are butter with the exception of oil in the chocolate. I also often whip my egg whites, will this also affect tge freezing? It makes me wonder if I sould try a shortening recipe but on the other hand I can't see how everyone uses shortening instead of butter. Any input ???
Thank you