I'm making a the cake 2 days before I am to decorate it so should I freeze the cake or just put it in the refrigerator for 2 days?? Just wanted to make sure the cake will still taste fresh if in the refrigerator for 2 days.

Thanks for your help.

definitely freeze it...

I would freeze it.

I always freeze, even if it's 1 day. Much easier for me that way!

How long do I need to pull it out for before I can start frosting it???

It should thaw out within an hour.

I used to think there was this huge stigma to freezing a cake. Ha! Boy was I naive. I read and read and found out a few things. What I was thinking about was cake that has been frozen for an extended period of time. But hey pereridge Farm and SaraLee can do it and make it work well then... and their cakes are fully iced and sealed. Not just layers and layer like the large box stores do and store them un-iced. I think that dries the cake a bit.

Freezing arrests the spoiling stage till thawed it also traps moisture if you wrap before freezing keep the cake wrapped while defrosting. It also helps my recipes with settling. I used to have an issue with decorating a cake and then it would settle and I would have a mess or a bulge. Some can whip out fresh cake all the day long and never have an issue. I love fresh cake. but to be honest the cake matures in day and the flavor settles and intensifies. I like hot fresh cake but cake on day 2 and a half is perfect in flavor and texture for slicing up and serving. So now I bake one day 1 and freeze overnight. Decorate on day 2 and finish up before the party on day 3 and it's great. But because I froze the cakes is still on day 2 does that make sense?

If you are just using buttercream you can let your cake cool, then torte it and freeze the halves wrapped well in some sort of wrap, I prefer Press and Seal. Then take it out of the freezer the next day or so and fill, crumb coat and do your final coat after the crumb coat crusts up. If you are doing a fondant covering then let the crumbcoated cake settle for at least two hours. This will let it thaw and come to room temp which will cut down on gas bubbles and settling lines after you put your fondant on. HTH

Cat