If you have personally frozen a fully decorated cake, how did it work out?

Was it buttercream or fondant?

I need to freeze a decorated cake, it will have red, black and white icing or fondant and an edible image.

Can the colors bleed when thawing?
Will a hardened fondant decoration soften when it thaws?

I plan to wrap the box in saran and foil before freezing and then thaw fully wrapped until it's room temp. before I remove the cake from the box.

Thanks in advance.

I have frozen fully decorated cakes. I did not use buttercream, but a cream cheese and butter frosting. It held up beautifully. I make many of these. However, a word of caution, I once took one out unwrapped and had condensation on the cake. It also had some deep cranberry colored decoration and the moisture bled the color terribly. So, do a test run with a thaw completely wrapped to see if it works. Otherwise, I say definitely with the buttercream.

I have frozen both--buttercream and fondant. Don't remember the colors on either but did not have a problem with bleeding.

You are correct in that you wrap the cake box in plastic wrap or foil and DO NOT open/unwrap until it is fully thawed at room temp.

Both were frozen for a week. A wedding cake (buttercream) was made a week too early. Put in box fully together and dowelled. Came out fine and tasted just as fresh as day one.

The fondant cake was a Barbie cake. Made for a weekend birthday but little girl was sick and party moved to the next weekend.

I wouldn't advise that . Red, black, imagine the condense, I am not leaving that overnight in the fridge, let along freeze it ... I freese only the actual cake, wrapped. You can freeze the cake&cream, sealed with buttercream, I guess, but not the whole decorated cake ...

I have frozen both--buttercream and fondant. Don't remember the colors on either but did not have a problem with bleeding.

You are correct in that you wrap the cake box in plastic wrap or foil and DO NOT open/unwrap until it is fully thawed at room temp.

Both were frozen for a week. A wedding cake (buttercream) was made a week too early. Put in box fully together and dowelled. Came out fine and tasted just as fresh as day one.

The fondant cake was a Barbie cake. Made for a weekend birthday but little girl was sick and party moved to the next weekend.

I wouldn't advise that . Red, black, imagine the condense, I am not leaving that overnight in the fridge, let along freeze it ... I freese only the actual cake, wrapped. You can freeze the cake&cream, sealed with buttercream, I guess, but not the whole decorated cake ...

Once a cake is unwrapped, then condensation WILL form on the cake. DO NOT UNWRAP! Let it thaw at room temperature for a couple of days.

Once a cake is unwrapped, then condensation WILL form on the cake. DO NOT UNWRAP! Let it thaw at room temperature for a couple of days.

I have frozen...SMBC covered with Satin Ice fondant...my daughter's wedding cake,and also fondant covered decorated cupcakes...with no problems...the only part I don't have experience with is freezing an edible image..have used them,on fondant on cookies,and on buttercream...but have never frozen them...sorry!
edited to add...I did as you mentioned...3 layers of saran around the box,then foil....and don't open the wrapping/box till about 24hours after removing from freezer..

Thanks everyone. Mac, does it really take a couple of days to defrost at room temperature? I was going to suggest overnight the night before the party.

Depends on the size of cake. A single or double layer cake will defrost in 24 hours. The wedding cake was a 3-tiered cake so I allowed a little over 48 hours. For the Barbie cake, I allowed about 30 hours--that one was fondant covered and I wanted to be sure that I did not get any condensation on it.

Depends on the size of cake. A single or double layer cake will defrost in 24 hours. The wedding cake was a 3-tiered cake so I allowed a little over 48 hours. For the Barbie cake, I allowed about 30 hours--that one was fondant covered and I wanted to be sure that I did not get any condensation on it.

If you are worried about the edible image, is it possible for you - do you have enough time - to put it on after the cake thaws?

Mac, how did you box a 3-tier cake so you could effectively wrap it?


TNTFundraiser, great idea but unfortunately the cake has to be completely decorated before freezing since it has to be done at someone else's house.

Thanks again for the input.

How about freezing a cake with ganache filling & buttercream icing? Will the ganache get hard?

I had to freeze a cake because I made it too early, I brought the cake to the customer still in the box with saran wrap and foil. The customer unwrapped the cake the next day for her son's party. She said it still looked and tasted fine. It had a FBCT in black and royal blue.

Looking at the thread, That was probably my screw up. I had mine unwrapped and frozen. I was a little lazy. Sounds like keeping it wrapped prevents the major movements of moist warm air into the cake box or wrap.

All in all, people freeze leftover buttercream all the time, but won't freeze it on the cake? I just don't get that. It works. It doesn't change the taste. I don't see a problem. I am glad to see all of the positive experiences people are having with freezing. It really helps with production and doesn't diminish the great cakes that are made.

The box was a 14X14X14. I wrapped and taped as much of the top portion of the box with saran wrap. Then laid out some on the counter and set box on top of it. Pulled it up around the box and taped.

I have never seen a box that high. The cake boxes I have are only I think 5 or 6" high. That's a great size box for a tiered cake!

Thanks everyone for these helpful responses!

Is it better to freeze a cake then to refrigerate it?? And will the cake still tast as fresh as the day you made it?? How does this work? Im a beginner at this!

Is it better to freeze a cake then to refrigerate it?? And will the cake still tast as fresh as the day you made it?? How does this work? Im a beginner at this!

Depending on when you need the cake. If it is just a couple of days, refrigeration is fine. A week later, definitely freeze.

Yes, I use corrugated shipping boxes for wedding cakes. They are very sturdy. Heaven forbid, if a cake slides and starts the fall over, the box is sturdy enough to keep it up.

This happened this past weekend with the 100+ temp we had here. I was delivering a 3-tier cake (and yes, it was stacked, as all of my deliveries are). Even with the AC blowing full blast I knew the delivery was not going to be a good one. The cakes slid (even with the dowel in the center which I remove at the venue) to one side and was leaning on the box. If it had been in a regular cake box, I would have had cake all over the back of the delivery van. I was able to use the center dowel to shift everything back into place, smooth out the frosting with my trusty "smoothing cloth" (AKA Viva), and finish detailing on-site.