I am needing to make a cake and decorate it with fondant and hold it almost a week before the event. I have to be gone out of town, but have been asked to do a highly decorated cake. I don't want to turn it down, but I want it to hold well and look nice. I've had problems with mmf getting sticky when it is put into the fridge, but don't know any other way to do it. Does anyone have a suggestion?

Thanks!
wyliecakes

My only suggestion is to freeze it. I really don't have experience with it yet but I do have a test cake in the freezer that I will be opening in 2 weeks (no I will not eat it).

Rylan, thank you for getting back to me. That may be an option. I wonder if the fondant will then be sticky once it thaws out? I don't know, I might try it!

Is the fondant colored in anyway? If so the color will run from the condensation. If it is white or ivory you should be fine. Let it defrost, the fondant will eventually dry on its own Just make sure you have ample time to let it completely defrost & dry before you deliver it. Be forewarned, the fondant might crack during the defrost process if it was rolled too thin.

OH WAIT! you said MMF...Ya know I only use the commercial fondant, not homemade mmf. It might remain sticky, I have no clue! Why don't you do a small cake and cover it then freeze it overnight, take it out and see how it does. That is the only way to be 100% sure that it won't be sticky.

We used to freeze cakes all the time at school.
This is how I do it...
Make sure you give it time to thaw, but it's good if it's still a LITTLE cold, but very firm. Then build your cake, bc coat, and pop in fridge to firm back up. Pull out and cover with fondant. I've had success with this!

However....my buttercream is about 50% butter, no shortening. I can't speak on shortening based buttercream (AKA american buttercream) because i've never used it for anything else other than piping practice buttercream.

HTH

Kristy

Do frozen cakes really taste as fresh as the day they were made though? I hear alot of people bake the wedding cakes up to a week before the delivery , so its not all rushed at the end? Has anyone tried this before?

It sounds like you want to completely bake, decorate, freeze, and then pop it out the day of the event ready to eat?
You could with buttercream, I'm not sure about MMF. That darn stuff condenses like mad.

Frozen cakes taste just fine--if anything better than fresh IMO-- it evens out the moisture. (I'm one of those the cake tastes better on the third day people.) Although I only have experience with scratch baking so if your using a box cake, I'm not sure if its the same.

I would not suggest freezing a fondant covered cake. When thawing the cake will sweat and if you use colors in the fondant they may bleed and cause a disaster.