Hi,

I am planning to make a red velvet cake with cream cheese filling and cover it with fondant, but I have a couple questions and been searching the internet and seem to get different answers and I feel so confused. Anyway, my questions are:

1. I want to freeze my cake as I'm planning to do it on a later date. How do I freeze and when do I freeze a cake?

2. After I take out the frozen cake for decorating, do I wait and let it thaw before I fill and crumbcoat or can I do the filling and crumbcoating right away?

3. When, how and how long do you let a cake settle after crumbcoating and before applying fondant?

4. Can I apply fondant on a frozen cake?

5. Also, if my fillings are perishable do I put it in the freezer after I apply the fondant?

Thanks!

The way I would do it is bake the cake as far in advance as possible. Once the cake is baked, I would wrap it super tight and make sure to seal it very well with plastic wrap. I take extra precaution and even put them inside individual zip-locks to make sure no air gets in there and to make sure I hold moisture in. When I am ready to put together I would take them out of the freezer, let them sit for a few minutes and then even out the layers or trim off any excess. You can cut the cake while it is frozen and it helps with slicing and getting nice layers. I would immediately add my fillings, and do my first crumb coat. Throw it back in the refrigerator, let the crumb coat set, and then add the final coat. Once the final coat is on, throw it back in the refrigerator and let it set again so that the buttercream is nice and hard for the fondant to go over it. I wouldn't suggest maybe putting it in the freezer too long before putting the fondant. I did that once and had condensation issues where the cake started to sweat after I laid the fondant over it as it defrosted.

However, once you cover it in fondant, you can put it back in the refrigerator and take it out prior to delivery. And if your fillings are perishable, by all means yes...put them in the fridge.

So I bake it, throw it in the freezer, take it out on the day I need it, tort, fill and crumbcoat and put it back in fridge and then final coat and put it back in the refrigerator. Should I let it thaw before i put the fondant on?

thank you!

I would say once you do the final coat, just leave it long enough for the butter to not lift if you touch it with your finger. Throw the fondant over at that time. You can put it in the freezer to help the buttercream set for a few minutes...maybe no more than 10-15. You don't want it to be frozen when you try to cover it in fondant. You just want the buttercream hard. If you allow it to freeze too much you will have issues putting the fondant over. At least I did...

You don't have to wait for the cake itself to thaw out before u cover it because your applying fondant to the layer of buttercream, not the cake directly...if that makes sense.