I seem to be getting the same results every time I try to carve cakes: crumbling. I almost always have to switch my plans to accommodate my crumbling and dying cakes which is very annoying. I have been reading a lot of threads and am getting the general gist of how to carve cakes but I still have a few questions.

1. Are there certain recipes that you use in order to minimize crumbling? Whenever I use chocolate recipes, the cakes seem to fall apart very easily. Lemon cakes, on the other hand, seem to really hold their shape. Is it the amount of a certain ingredient or the way they're baked that determines their crumablebility?

2. If I pull my cakes out of the oven, let them cool, then wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze them, can I take them out, level them, fill and crumb coat them, and then put them back into the freezer and expect them not to warp when they thaw out?

3. I have tried freezing cakes and letting them thaw and I have tried refrigerating cakes and letting them thaw and I receive the same results in most cases. The fondant turns out sticky, the decorations start to slide down the sides, and whatever I have painted on starts to run.

Please help me, I'm pretty confused.
Thanks!
Jessica