Hi! I am baking my cakes today (wednesday) for a Saturday wedding. Do you recommend that I freeze my cakes tonight then fill and frost tomorrow and fondant on Friday?! If so, do you level before freezing your cakes? And/or do you fill and crumbcoat before freezing? Thanks so much for all your guys' help with this being my first wedding cake!!

Yes, it doesn't hurt to freeze. If you're doing all of your prep work on Thursday, I'd complete the fondant as well to make sure you allow yourself enough decorating time on Friday.

Would you level your cakes before you freeze them?

I always bake on Wed. , fill and crumb coat on Thursday, ice and decorate Friday, deliver Sat. or Sun. No need to freeze.

Oh really?! You don't think I would need to freeze them? What do you do, just wrap them all up tightly and leave them on the counter then? I think it would be great to not have to freeze them!

I wrap them well once they cool on Wed. Then unwrap on thursday, level, torte, fill, crumb coat, wrap back in plastic, then on friday unwrap and slap on a final coat of icing, decorate, stick in dowels, etc. and box. Then deliver on Saturday. If it's due on Sunday I'll generally fill on Friday, decorate Saturday.

You're only leaving it for a day before it gets icing on it, once there is icing on the cake it will stay moist for a while!

I wouldn't freeze either. I would wrap well and leave them out.

Thanks everyone for all your help! I didn't feel like it made a whole lot of sense to freeze just for tonight (especially when I am still baking as we speak!) It was just hard trying to figure out my timeline! So I will just wrap them up, then level tomorrow and fill!

Do you think it would hurt to level them tonight and then wrap them up?! I figured it I leveled them, then I could stack them on top of each other...

I like to tort and level just before I fill so the cut edge is exposed for less time, (not a germ thing, but for freshness) but I don't really think it makes a lot of difference if you wrap it well.

I'm with Indy. I *always* try to get the cakes in the freezer even if it's just overnight, or at least for a few hours.

Do ya'll ever start decorating a cake while it's still frozen? I haven't tried it yet but it sure is easier to handle those frozen layers!

What do you wrap with if you're leaving it out, unfrozen? Should it be airtight, like a sticky plastic wrap, of does it need some air to keep it from getting sticky.?

Okay.. so here it is! Thank you guys for all your help! You are wonderful!