Hi all,

I am making another version of this cake (see link) that I made a few weeks ago.

https://www.facebook.com/Bloomincakesandcupcakes/photos/pcb.891758844215787/891758524215819/?type=1&theater

It will be a three layer white cake layered with fresh strawberries and cream cheese icing, marshmallow fondant (homemade) with modeling chocolate polka dots attached with Wilton's edible adhesive, topped with modeling chocolate flowers.

The client needs to pick it up earlier than expected.  I'll need to have it completed tonight (Thursday) with the party being on Sunday.  I'm not 100% comfortable with it sitting out for that long (with the strawberries and cream cheese), but I don't want her to refrigerate it and have it fall apart.  Even if it sits for long enough so it dries well from coming out of the fridge, I'm worried that the dots might come loose.

Any advice on how I should tell her to store this??  Thank you!

The fresh strawberries won't be fresh on Sunday...refrigerated or not. I've tried it once and it made the cake soggy after a couple of days sitting in the fridge.

The dots won't fall if you use the glue and refrigerate the cake.

for food safety it has to go in the fridge there is no question about it --  you need a food safety class -- in four days the strawberries might be gone anyway -- i don't know -- that's a long time --

best to you

I'm at a loss for what to do about this cake.  If the party was on Saturday I wouldn't be that worried about it, I've made the strawberries and cream filling multiple times and haven't had a problem with it.  That extra day has just got be nervous.  I've disclosed all this to the client and haven't received a call back about it.   This is what the client has ordered, but I'm just not comfortable with it....or all the scheduling changes at the last minute.  :/

if you are not only documenting here on the world wide web but also leaving fresh strawberries and cream cheese out of the fridge for three days you could be and probably are making people sick -- you need to suspend using hazardous ingredients until you get into a safe food handling course --

you need to say no to this order too -- it won't work --

heads up

Maybe you can offer something else (another filing) and let her know you are not comfortable with the filling for safety reasons (put this in writing ie: email).

It's too bad she's telling you this at the last minute. But your gut feeling is telling you not to do it.

the client should not be making the decision you should pull the plug on it -- change the ingredients or cancel would be your choices

I have never done cream cheese icing, so I can't tell you anything, but if others tell you  it has to be  refrigerated,  then it has to be. But if you have fresh  strawberries in cake  then it is  definitely has to be refrigerated, without question. If all this cream cheese and strawberry filling will  brew on a third day, your customer is going to make it your  fault. I have done a lot of dessert cakes with  whipped cream and fresh strawberries, they were kept refrigerated. We tasted them on 4th day and strawberries  were fine. But I can't imagine keeping strawberries at room temperature for 3 days. 

Read the laws by any state that allows baking from a home kitchen and you will see that ANY cake with fresh fruit (strawberries) and/OR cream cheese icing is UNSAFE IF NOT REFRIGERATED AFTER MORE THAN 2 HOURS AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. That is why Cottage Food Act laws forbid the sale of baked goods with "perishable ingredients" [like fresh fruit and cream cheese].

You need to say:  Sorry, Ms. Customer, I cannot make and SELL a cake with perishable ingredients.    It is against the law.

You are to be commended for coming on the forum and asking the question about storage.   This could have been a potential disaster. 

If you have not already done so, please see what the specific laws are in your state/county regarding the selling of baked goods from a home kitchen.

You may wish to make a substitute cake with shelf-stable ingredients (not fresh fruit or cream cheese).  There are many, many choices that can be made with safe, shelf-stable ingredients that will taste great.

A quick google of NC laws shows that under allowed foods:  Cakes/cupcakes ....no frostings or fillings that require refrigeration.

 Thank you for the polite comments.  Obviously I'm not comfortable doing this or else I wouldn't have posted a question asking about storage options, I was really hoping someone had some helpful advice about ways to refrigerate it without ruining the finish (and also really hoping that they'd moved the date of the party and just left that part out of the message I'd received).  The "no cream cheese frosting and fruit filling" is a new one to me, I'll admit that, since every bakery that I know of has an option for it.  If I'm not 100% comfortable having someone consume something that I've made, I won't make it, but I also didn't want to have a mother without a cake that she was counting on for her daughter's 1st birthday (especially with me having not been able to get ahold of her to discuss), hence this post asking about storage options as a fall back.  Turns out that I got a call back at the 11th hour and I'll be making a special trip to deliver her cake the day of the party on Sunday.  Again, thank you for the nice comments, I'm a little surprised at the snippy ones though.  :/

Hi Spring24,

Apti is not trying to be snippy. She's just trying to tell you that if you are working out of your home under cottage food laws that it is illegal for you to sell that type of cake.  You are opening yourself up for tremendous liability.  Storefronts operate under different laws them home bakers.

For your own sake, research the laws in your state.  That way, when a client calls, you can say with certainty "I cannot legally do a cake like that".  

When to deliver or how to store  is a moot point if the cake is illegal to begin with.  You need to protect yourself and your business  as well as your clients. 

Good luck :)

It was definitely noted!  :)

you're right there is a safe and responsible way to handle these hazardous ingredients and when you get into a sanitation class you will learn about it -- you seriously need to consider suspending your use of these harmful potentially lethal ingredients until you learn how --

best to you

https://www.servsafe.com/home

Thank you K8memphis, I'm fully aware of how to handle berries and cream cheese, and fully aware that they can't sit out for days at a time.  I'm also fully aware that I'm done with these forums considering how condescending some people are when asking for advice on how to refrigerate a fondant-covered cake.  Sheesh! 

Let's assume for the sake of argument that you become licensed in the future where you can legally sell this kind of cake...

I would tell the client that due to the perishable nature of the ingredients, the cake must be picked up or delivered on the day of the party only.  No getting the cake a day or two (or three) early.  If they aren't willing to meet that requirement then you should decline the order. It's not a bad idea to have this in your contract.   If for some reason they want to pick up the cake early you need to tell them it's not possible and they can either get their cake the day of the party or forfeit their cake and no refund per the terms of the contract.

maybe you misspoke here then and meant you would keep it refrigerated for 3 days but not 4 -- idk for sure what you meant but you seemed more concerned with the decor being messed up in the fridge than the safety aspect -- 

no hard feelings

You're exactly right, and this was exactly how it was originally supposed to go.  That was until I got a message stating that she could only meet me at X time on X day two days earlier.  Then, for a solid 24 hrs I could no longer get in touch with her to discuss why this was a bad idea unless the party date was moved.  That lead me to looking for possible ways to safely preserve this cake, on the chance that for whatever reason, I wouldn't be able to get in touch with her until the time that she thought that she would be picking up her specific cake for her daughter's first birthday....only to find that there isn't one because I couldn't figure out a way to make it safely.  I'm feeling like this thread got WAY off course here.   Maybe I just gave too much detail here, the question should have simply been, "Is there a way to safely refrigerate a fondant cake for a couple days" so that I could weigh any potential options. 

You're welcome.

That was me at my actual job trying to quickly explain things, yes I misspoke, it should have been "extra time".  I haven't had a problem with the strawberries making the cake soggy, as was mentioned before.

I'm not 100% comfortable with it sitting out for that long (with the strawberries and cream cheese), but I don't want her to refrigerate it and have it fall apart.  Spring 24 those " sitting out" phrase got me confused. I thought sitting out at room temperature for  4 days. If you planned refrigerate fondant covered cake  for 3 days then 1 extra day won`t do much difference to fondant. Strawberries in cream cheese icing: cream cheese has a lot of salt and a lot of sugar and 1 exra day may make strawberries mushy. 

so please stay and just know i meant well

I think some of the responses here are a result of some of then odd things we have seen people do with food. I don't run a business, or work in a food establishment but I do have my food safety training. I sort of looked at my mother oddly one day when she told me cheesecake does not require refridgeration since it has been baked.  She is normally quite good at food handling and storage so I was pretty shocked. Then there is my mother in law who is terrible at food handling and serves food stored in the garage at Christmas time as the fridge is full. The garage is around 7 degrees and she keeps shrimp etc. out there for like three days and keeps bringing it back in the house to serve as leftovers for days. It is a cooked shrimp ring, not raw shrimp, but still. I have tried explaining that it is not safe and I get nowhere because no one has died yet. 

So while I didn't read your post as not knowing how to handle the ingredients, I read it as asking if the fondant would be ok, I am not shocked that many here would want to make sure you knew how to handle the ingredients...it seems like common sense, but it turns out common sense is not always common!