Hi Everyone,
Well, I just started doing cakes a couple months ago and absolutely love it!

I was recently asked to participate in a holiday craft fair to earn some extra money for the holiday's by making my cakes! Well, I decided to make mini-fondant cakes decorated for the different holidays!

My question is how should I go about baking these multiple cakes and them not being weeks old when I need them? The fair is on a Saturday so I was hoping to make about 15 to 20 cakes, but I don't want to bake too early because by that day they would be a week old and no one wants to eat a week old cake. (I know I wouldn't want too..lol)

I know I can make all my little decorations a week ahead of time (with gumpaste or fondant) and they will be dry enough to just place on the cakes a day or two before but I'm lost on how to bake that many and keep them fresh..

Any suggestions would be great!

Freeze them. You can make them a week ahead with no problem and they will stay moist. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap; you can freeze them as unfrosted layers, or tort and fill first if you're going to do that. Let them thaw before you put the fondant on, ideally the day before the fair.

I've tried freezing cakes ahead of time and when I thaw them the top comes out "gummy". Any suggestions of what I'm doing wrong? I have some cakes that I need to bake ahead of time in a couple of weeks and I'm confused about what to do because of the "gummy" problem I have. Any ideas?

I have baked and frozen cakes, as taught here by many bakers. This week, I unwrapped, filled and covered a cake that has been in the freezer for 7 weeks. Not a trace of freezer burn...no gumminess...my biggest critic had NOT a clue!

So, just to clarify...wrap the cakes with "plastic wrap" and also foil before freezing?

I'd use plastic first and then foil if storing for a longer period of time, but have used just the plastic wrap (usually two layers) with no problem when it's only going to be in there for a day or two. I think the top tier of my wedding cake got wrapped in plastic, then foil, then more plastic, then more foil -- and it was still good a year later.

Sometimes I put a layer of parchment paper on top before wrapping in plastic, and then if there is a bit of a soft crust to the top of the cake, which is what gets "gummy," it doesn't stick to the plastic when unwrapped. This is useful when the cake is going to be carved, rather than just levelled, so you don't want to bother with cutting off the top "crust" beforehand, but also don't want it to peel off in a jagged mess after the cake is frozen.

I used to wrap in syran and foil but the foil always messed my nice even cake layer up so I stopped using foil... I have had no problems or complaints on my cakes...

It will probably be for less than a week, so I guess I'll just go with the plastic wrap...why waste the foil! Thanks for the advice!

Thank you all soo much for all the ideas! I'll definitely freeze them a week before the fair!

Good luck with the Holiday craft fair Andreasmommy and thanks for your original post . Sorry for jumping in, but I had problems with freezing cakes and just decided not to do it anymore. But I've learned something here too...thanks to your post!

Thank you! It should be challenging and fun at the same time...lol

Don't apologize for jumping in, I'm glad you were able to get your questions answered too! Good luck with the freezing!