i knowwwww it's been mentioned before... even this week. And I've searched back pretty far through the forum but am still a bit unsure.

OK so i've baked a cake. Do I level the cake before freezing or when I'm ready to decorate? Do I crumb coat it before freezing or does it need to be naked?

The cake is for a shower NEXT Sunday, however, I'll be out of town most of the week and wanted to have it baked so all I would have to do is decorate when I return on Saturday. It'll still be fresh right??

I bake, cool, level and torte, wrap and freeze.

Pull it out, fill, let settle, crumb coat and ice, then decorate.

It will be fresh if you don't overbake and make sure your wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. You should prob freeze it to help maintain it's freshness.

I actually freeze my cakes no matter what, they just taste better, moister. I had to decorate a fresh cake today and got to taste it, hmmmm sure like the freezing process better!

leah_s Do you use sugar syrup for moistening?

[quote="Darlene"]leah_s Do you use sugar syrup for moistening?[/quote]

Absolutely. Properly called a "wash."

I don't use a simple syrup. My cakes are very moist (probably because I take them from the freezer, fill,crumbcoat and then let the cake settle and thaw under the crumbcoat at least 3 hours which seals the moisture inside the cake) and simple syrup seems to make the cake mushy for me.

I just froze my cakes for the first time yesterday. I didn't level & torte them first though. I just let them cool, wrapped in several layers of plastic wrap and then 2 layers of foil. Curious as to why to level & torte before freezing...is going to be difficult to do once they have thawed????

I basically do whatever I have time to do before freezing them. Sometimes that means leveling and torting and sometimes it just means taking them out of the pans and wrapping them up as fast as I can for the freezer. I always try to get them in the freezer while they're still a little warm - seems to work better for me. Afterwards, I usually thaw, unwrap, do whatever leveling and torting I didn't do before, crumb-coat and ice or cover with fondant. Other people (as you can see above) only leave the icing till after the freezing. So the freezing can pretty much come into the process anywhere you like, just as long as you do it while the cake is still fresh. It really does wonders for a cake, and I'm always leery of bakers who advertise that they never freeze their cakes!

I personally do not like to level and torte right after I bake the cake. I get better results if I bake, cool slightly, wrap and freeze. I feel that the cake is much to tender and fragile right after baking and breaks very easily. The ONE time I tried this method it was not a good experience.

For me leveling and torting after freezing is the way to go. I also let the cake thaw completely before I do this. I seem to have problems trying to torte a cake that it frozen even with my Agbay.

I am sure there are those of you who don't agree with my method but this what works best for me.