Hey everyone!

So I just have some general questions about caking, the whole process of filling to icing, decorating and delivery.
So my usual process is to bake early in the week, freeze and pull out my layers on Thursday to fill. I use a very stiff ganache as a dam for all my cakes and usually do a crumb coat in ganache as well because I thought it makes the cake layers more stable and less prone to sliding, slipping or anything like that. I then wrap the cakes in seran wrap and let sit overnight to thaw and settle. On Friday, the cakes get iced and decorated and sit out at room temperature until pick up or delivery on Saturday.
-So first question, should I be ganaching these cakes? Or is it too stiff? I've been using ganache because it's so stiff but I'm worried that when the cake thaws and settles the gas can't escape and the ganache and cake cracks and hence loses some of its stability.
-second question/problem, some of the cakes (maybe 1 out of 20 or more) will develop a bulge or blowout at the bottom edge during transportation. I thought I had done everything to prevent this, but it seems like bumpy roads or handling is the culprit, even on single tier cakes. Any ideas/suggestions?
-final question. I recently purchased the cake safe and I also use SPS in all of my tiered cakes (so i drill 2" holes in the sps plates). Before stacking the cake in the cake safe and leaving for delivery, I place the cakes in the freezer for about an hour to get the icing hard and set. Should I be doing this? Or am I setting myself up for disaster by causing bulges or excess condensation?

I know this is long but thank you so much in advance for any suggestions and wisdom!!

I wouldn't cover cakes that are frozen, because they will release gas as they thaw. Maybe you could take them out to thaw then ice them once they're room temp. I fill my cakes then press down really firmly on them to make sure there aren't any air pockets between the layers. Give them some time to sit before you ganache them.

The shaking probably did cause the bulge, since the vibrations can make the cake compact on itself and force air out if it's trapped in there.

I've heard of people putting books or birkcs or whatever on top of their filled cakes to force the gas out, but I don't know if that's totally necessary. As long as you do everything at room temperature and not frozen it should be avoid the gas escaping.

Thanks for the response! So maybe I can leave the cakes out for a few hours and fill them while they're cold but not frozen, then wait a couple more hours and do the ganache crumb coat.

.....leave the cakes out for a few hours and fill them while they're cold but not frozen, then wait a couple more hours and do the ganache crumb coat.....

I'd say that's a good plan