This thread is just what I was looking for!

So...do you frost while frozen still? Or wait until thawed?

I have frozen cakes for necessity, time contraints. However, I much prefer a freshly baked cake. I don't like the texture change that occurs in the freezer, the cake becomes too dense and wet in the freezer in my opinion. On the cakes I have frozen I have found that they are still good, just not as good as my freshly baked cakes. I like to bake my cakes and crumb coat them the night before decorating or the morning before decorating if I can. The fresher the better.

I know everyone swears that the freezer has no effect on the cake, but I can taste a difference, even if slight. However I always freeze my cake for my petit fours once they have been filled and iced with buttercream, before covering in fondant and don't notice a difference with these. Maybe because you have such a small amount of cake to frosting and filling. They are just too difficult to make without freezing. I have not made a carved cake yet, but could see how freezing might be necessary for that as well.

Loriemoms:

Wow! I wish I had a commercial freezer! My next question would have been "how do you have room to keep cakes in the freezer in case of a pinch?"

I can't believe a bride called you on Wednesday for a Saturday cake!

The Freezer was on my Must Haves list....I am saving up to have a fridge too! They are so much more expensive then freezers...which I don't understand why!

This poor bride..her orignal cake decorator had fallen ill and couldn't do her cake. She was frantically calling around!

I had another bride just call me last weekend asking if I could do a cake for Easter! I wish i could have, but I would be out of town. That would have been fun!

Silly question, but if you are baking and freezing on the Saturday before the cake is due, how far in advance should you take the cake out of the freezer to let it thaw??

Thanks in advance!

I would take it out Friday morning to decorate it Friday night....

THANKS!! One more question, how far in advance can you safely bake your cakes? 1 month, or 1 week??

whoohoo this is just the thread I was looking for!

Hey guys - just my two cents - I always freeze my cakes, even if I don't necessarily need to for time constraints. I find it makes them moister and also gives it a firmer texture. And I always get so many compliments on the moistness of my cakes - but I only use cake mix! And I haven't been doctoring them up (but I'm going to try the pudding addition next time!) so I think freezing them it what makes a difference.

I wrap them in Saran wrap, a layer of tinfoil, then tye the cake up in a plastic grocery bag before putting them in the freezer. And yes, I've read where many people can fill and frost their cakes when frozen, but I have a heck of a time trying to tort a cake while it's frozen - sometimes the cake leveler gets stuck in the middle, where it's not thawed yet. I also read that you need to thaw them at room temperature in their original wrappings so that the condensation sticks to the plastic wrap instead of the cake - otherwise you could end up with a soggy cake. I don't know if that's true, but that's why I alway thaw mine before decorating. Just last night I pulled out some chocolate cakes that I'm doing for this weekend. For some reason - my chocolate cake always ends up burnt in some parts and barely cooked in others - and this is with a heating core and bake even strips! But when I leveled it - I tasted the part of the cake that appeared overcooked but it still tasted yummy - so I found a way to disguise an overcooked cake! Ha ha. Otherwise I would have had to bake a whole new one.

Hope that helps!

This week is like cake Week for me or something...but I had a cake due on Wednesday, a cake for work thursday, a wedding cake and a grooms cake for saturday and cupcakes due on Sunday! You think I overbooked myself? hahaha!

Last weekend, I got up at 6:30 on Sunday morning and baked till 5:30 at night. I put everything in the freezer and as the week has been going on, have been pulling out items from the freezer before I leave for work in the morning and decorating at night.

I bought the cake into work yesterday (It was a chocolate four layer cake) Everyone at work was saying how my cakes are always so moist and they just love them. So I asked a couple of people in private if they ever suspect that cake was made four days ago and frozen. They were shocked!! They said it tasted like I baked it this morning! So it really goes to show you that freezing is the way to go!

I had a cake instructor once that said as soon as she got an order, she would bake and freeze the cakes so they would be ready as the date approached. She did a lot of wedding cakes, and she said she can't count the number of times that brides said to her "Oh, Miss Toni, your cakes are always so good - I'm so glad you're not one of those people that freeze them!" So Toni would just smile and say "Thank you." Ha ha! What they don't know won't hurt them!

I'm with Isaacsmom and elvis. My first Wilton instructor told me to freeze cakes for convenience and to get them firm to apply the base frosting. I tried it and loved it, and have had terrific reviews on the moistness of cakes, too. Still very new a this cake decorating stuff, but this is one tip I intend to keep using!
Jaxdesserts - LOVE the freeze to get out of the pan idea. With a little one around, I often do not get back to the pan in time.
ConnieB - I do not thaw, which makes frosting easier, and have not had any sweating or other problems. Of course, I have not even attempted torteing yet, so that would likely be a glitch.

I just about always freeze my cakes....however, I torte them abd put in a piece of waxtex between the layers before I wrap in plastic wrap. I try to bake all my cakes for the week at one time, torte, wrap and freeze. I take them out a little before I am going to decorate...let them sit 15min or so before I separate them...they are still firm enough to pick up and peel off the waxtex.....then fill and crumbcoat. If it is something that I am going to be drawing on I let it sit a few hours before I frost it ....if it is just going to get flowers I go ahead and frost and decorate it. The cakes are always moist and delicious according to my customers. I have a separate freezer for my cakes.....it's a smaller upright....old but functional....and I paid ten dollars for it at a garage sale!!

Silly question: When you are going to freeze your cakes... Do you wait for them to cool and then wrap to freeze? Or do you wrap and stick in the freezer while it is still warm??

Thanks!

I always cool them thouroughly first. Now that you mention it - i have no idea why - maybe it's okay to put them in while warm? Hmmm...let's hear from our panel of experts!

THANKS FOR ALL THE GREAT INFO!! I will be baking and freezing tonight!!

Hi everyone. I have been lurking on this site for a few months and this string of posts has my attention. I have had the same question for some time. Like others, because of working full-time with twins at home, I have to prepare ahead. So on Wed I have been baking then freezing in multiple layers of plastic wrap and aluminum foil, on Thursday I have been thawing on the counter a few hours then icing and some decorating and on Friday I finish decorating to eat on Saturday. I have also done this on one less day. Both ways give me a dry yellow cake by Sat. I have used recipes by both Colette Peters and Sylvia Weinstein (but didn't use her soaking glaze) and the cakes always loose their moistness. Does anyone else do this and still have moist cakes by Sat? Is so, what recipe do you use...preferable one from scratch???
Thanks in advance.

I made a cake tonight for the first time tonight and I ended up cooking too many layers. I froze my layers after baking them and then took them out of the freezer earlier today. My question is, can I put the two layers I did not use back into the freezer? I never even took them out of the saran wrap.

CCCTina

I always freeze and I tort and ice the cakes while still frozen. The fondant traps inthe moisture as the cakes defrost and I always end up with a really moist luscious cake - according to my customers.

CP xxx