Hi everyone,

After scouring many articles I'm confused about what to do :)  So I baked 12 coffee-chocolate flavored cupcakes and 12 vanilla cupcakes and froze them without frosting a week ago for a New Years party I'm hosting in 2 days. I froze them like this- I let them cool completely (maybe a little more than I should've oops lol) and then wrapped them individually twice in plastic wrap and then placed the wrapped cupcakes in sealed ziploc bags and then into the freezer.

So my question is how can I frost these without compromising the quality of the cupcakes?  Ideally I would love to frost them the night before because the day of might be stressful to make the frosting and frost the cakes.  Is it possible to maybe thaw them in the fridge tomorrow, frost them and have them ready for the party the day after tomorrow?

Or is it better for me to thaw at room temperature on the day of and make the frosting/frost the cakes the day of? 

Also how long do they last at room temperature after they have been thawed/defrosted?  Can I keep them out for 6 hours at room temperature?

Make the frosting now.  Store it however is most convenient for you - on the counter, in the fridge.

Take the cupcakes out of the freezer the morning you want to eat them, frost them, put them on a nice platter and put a cake dome over them.  Done.

PS you can freeze cupcakes already baked, filled and frosted.  I do it all the time. 

Hi Leah thanks so much for the quick reply!  When you take them out of the freezer in the morning, do you mean defrost them at room temperature or in the fridge?  Would they last until midnight that day at room temperature with the frosting?  

AHmm I don't know if I do this the "right" way, but here's what I do. For example last week I had an order for 4 dozen cupcakes with fondant toppers. I made the cupcakes 3 or 4 days ahead of time and froze them. I did not individually wrap them this time, because the last time I did that they kinda got squished and did not get back their shape once thawed. So, this time I put them in airtight containers. It was a tall container so I stacked them with parchment paper between the layers. They ended up thawing and tasting beautifully but I am not sure I would freeze like that for longer term storage.

Anyway. After I baked/froze the cupcakes I made the fondant and frosting. Most frostings can be made a couple days to a week ahead of time, if stored properly, to save you time on decorating day. When the day came for me to decorate the cupcakes, I pulled them out of the freezer and put them in their plastic cupcake containers on the counter. Normally I would wait till completely thawed to frost but this time I didn't. They frosted fine, but when I went to attach the fondant decorations, the frosting was pretty solid. Oops. Won't make that mistake again. They ended up turning out great and got rave reviews after I delivered them THE NEXT DAY.

So if I were you, I would make your frosting (and any other decorations) today, thaw and frost tomorrow and then relax and serve them the next day. I wouldn't refrigerate unless your frosting needs to be refrigerated (like cream cheese, for example) for safety reasons. I almost never refrigerate cakes/cupcakes. I think the fridge dries them out too much. I would just leave them out on the counter, but keep them covered, of course. HTH

APS you can freeze cupcakes already baked, filled and frosted.  I do it all the time.  [/quote]

Leah, May I ask how do you wrap/package them for the freezer?

I agree with the above posts, make everything in advance in your own time and then the morning of just pull it all out and put it together & depending on how many you have to make -  (I'm not talking in the hundreds here), it takes no time at all.

Thank you!!  Just so I understand correctly-

Tomorrow evening around 6pm- thaw & frost the cupcakes at room temperature.  Store them covered at room temperature. (do you have any recommendations for how to cover them? I don't have a cake dome unfortunately)

Day after tomorrow, at night around 10pm- Serve cupcakes to guests

Does this sound ok?  I'm just nervous about the consistency/quality and most importantly want to make sure no bacteria/food poisoning problems happen haha

AThat sounds good to me- assuming your frosting and/or any fillings are shelf stable.

Just sticking to buttercream frosting!

For new bakers/decorators, this process with timeline needs a tutorial @costumeczar

AIf I freeze my cupcakes. .then remove frome freezer to decorate...can I just put back in freezer until the party? If so do I cover? If so with what?

AThanks for the quick response

Thanks so much!!