Freezing Cakes And Trying To Frost Them! What A Mess!

Decorating By imadreamer702 Updated 11 May 2013 , 6:10am by imadreamer702

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imadreamer702 Posted 10 May 2013 , 4:11pm
post #1 of 18

AI don't normally freeze my cakes. Well, this time I did. Simply because it is a big wedding cake to serve 100 people, and with the humidity here, I didn't want my cakes to mold while wrapped in Saran Wrap & patiently waiting to be put together on my counter.... So I got each tier out ofthefreezer, filled, stacked, and did my final layer of frosting...... Waited for 20 minutes for it to crust...... 30 minutes... An hour....2 hours..... Stuck in the fridge.... Left out overnight...... Still, frosting had not crusted, and I noticed droplets of water all over the top and sides of the cake. What the $&;@()$:/? Is going on!!? Has anyone ever had this problem? And what am. Going to do now!? I do not have time for this!!

17 replies
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ddaigle Posted 10 May 2013 , 4:17pm
post #2 of 18

Did you do all those steps right out of the freezer? 

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tracie42 Posted 10 May 2013 , 4:27pm
post #3 of 18

Oh I'm so sorry to hear you had such a hard time. I freeze cake all the time because I have a full time job. I defrost completely before icing and decoration. I usually leave them on the counter over night still in wrapped. Have never had a problem.

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2xMiMi Posted 10 May 2013 , 4:29pm
post #4 of 18

I do the same thing that tracie42 does and no problem.  icon_smile.gif

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MELROSE315 Posted 10 May 2013 , 4:51pm
post #5 of 18

AOh no! So sorry.. I freeze and decorate with buttercream all the time right out of the freezer and have not had that problem. Maybe you could but a new layer of buttercream over the top now that it is room temp?

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matthewkyrankelly Posted 10 May 2013 , 5:36pm
post #6 of 18

Freezing is a tool/method like anything else.  It probably wasn't the best thing to try something new on a wedding cake.  But, since we're there you should be able to get through this.

 

Your problem isn't the freezer.  It is the humidity.  The humidity will affect any chilled or frozen cake when you take it out.  The moisture in the air will condense on the outermost surface. when working in high humidity environments, the cake must be boxed or wrapped to push the condensation to the outside while the cake comes up to temp.

 

Once your cake comes to room temp, your condensation problem should go away and the buttercream will crust in a normal amount of time.  Try to work in an air conditioned space if possible.

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denetteb Posted 10 May 2013 , 5:48pm
post #7 of 18

If it isn't crusting you may want to use some other methods for smoothing the cake-bakers scraper, hot spatula, damp spatula.  I haven't had that problem when using a frozen cake either.  I usually start to fill and crumbcoat while frozen and it just defrosts as I work. 

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imadreamer702 Posted 10 May 2013 , 6:05pm
post #8 of 18

AMatthewkyrankelly: I could not agree with you more! I have totally sabatoged myself trying to do anything different than normal, and of all cakes to mess up on!!! A wedding cake! Thanks for letting me know , I will try that next time. If there is a next time. I am soooooo dissointed right now I'mno t sure if I will do this ever again.... I didn't know this would happen.... I thought I was doing everything right. No tutorial that I've ever watched said anything about this happening, and they always work with frozen cakes.

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imadreamer702 Posted 10 May 2013 , 6:06pm
post #9 of 18

AGo figure. The first time I try to do it this happens. >>trying to fix the mess I've made<< thanks everyone

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Earlval33 Posted 10 May 2013 , 6:23pm
post #10 of 18

AI had this problem last night, I stacked, crumb coated, froze and carved. It would NOT crust!! Finally I scraped and re-crumb coated and it turned out fine. Good luck!!

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mcaulir Posted 10 May 2013 , 10:04pm
post #11 of 18

All the people who work with frozen cake perhaps live in dry climates, or have airconditioning on in their kitchens. I couldn't put icing on a frozen cake because of the humidity here. It gets sticky immediately.

 

It doesn't actually take that long for a cake to defrost. A couple of hours is plenty to avoid this issue.

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DeniseNH Posted 10 May 2013 , 11:54pm
post #12 of 18

Your room air-conditioner is your friend.  Not only does it cool the room but it pulls all the humidity out of the room.  In a rush, I've touched a dry paper towel to the surface of the icing then resmoothed.

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cheatize Posted 11 May 2013 , 4:05am
post #13 of 18

It happens to me every time I try to do something with frozen cake. I don't know why it works for other people,  but it's never worked for me.

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vgcea Posted 11 May 2013 , 4:50am
post #14 of 18

It's kinda like putting fondant on a frozen cake. It turns into a sticky mess. Why? Because the cold cake relative to room temp would cause condensation of the moisture in the air. Condensation and a dry 'crust' surface are pretty mutually exclusive. Your best bet might be to scrape off the icing, allow the cakes to come to room temp, and then cover as you usually would.

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imadreamer702 Posted 11 May 2013 , 5:14am
post #15 of 18

AThanks I forgot to mention it was a 5 tier cake, I stacked, crumb coated, and put the final coats on each tier ...... It wasn't until AFTER I did all of that I realized they weren't crusting. I wish I could post a picture of it on here! Oh my my my...... I will never do that again. I will wait for them to thaw before I start frosting them next time!!

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mcaulir Posted 11 May 2013 , 5:21am
post #16 of 18

You stacked then crumbcoated?

 

Tiered cakes can be unstacked.

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vgcea Posted 11 May 2013 , 5:26am
post #17 of 18

If you stacked a bunch of cold cakes, I can see why it took hours to warm up compared to the shorter time it would take for individual cakes to warm up.

 

Is this your first stacked cake?

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imadreamer702 Posted 11 May 2013 , 6:10am
post #18 of 18

ANo no no ... Sorry that came out wrong. I definitely didn't put the whole cake together until I got to the wedding destination this evening. I meant that I filled each tier, crumb coated and final coated each tier. I didn't actually stack the tiers on top of one another at that point. No I have done several tiered cakes. Never 5 tiers though, and never froze the cakes either.

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