Hello everyone,

I have a cake that's due on Wednesday, can I bake it and decorate it on Monday and store it in fridge in container for Wednesday? or is it better to store it in freezer?

Thanks in advance

I believe freezer is better because it holds the cake, suspends it. Refrigeration on the other hand dries the product out.

It's called retro-gradation when you frige a cake.

A lot of people will say, 'my cakes are fresh never frozen'. Well to me, the opposite of fresh is stale and the opposite of frozen is room temp I guess. All good pastry chefs and cooks everywhere use the freezer and the frige as a viable essential kitchen tool. Can harm come from using them improperly sure. We've all had previously frozen products that were less than their best but probably their best wasn't all that great either.

Anyhow I vote freezer for holding cake before icing. In fact I freeze my filled cakes on purpose because it seasons the cake in a good way.

thank you. i am going to freeze the cake today around 6 hours before decorating it,what i really need to know is can i decorate it tonight and keep it in fridge just until wednesday morning?

how would you freeze a decorated cake? do you wrap it? 

See my little quote line down there about one baker doing the exact thing the other baker never does. That's me & Irene on when to freeze. There's no right or wrong it's just 10,000 ways to do the same thing. I never freeze a decorated cake for a customer or before an event.I always chill -frige that is -my decorated cakes.

You just have to determine what works best for you.

I think the difference of "when" must take into account the much more important steps of how you let the cake cool before you start icing at all. Yeah some people freeze a steaming cake...I do not consider that to be a technically responsible method.

Lots of people on Cake Central have complained of trouble when their frozen--then-iced cake layers express gas under their fondant coverings.  So you have to keep that in mind when you are making a decision about YOUR cake.

You also have to keep in mind any perishability issues with the filling and icing--they limit what your chilling or freezing options will be. I use real butter and cream and custard a lot so I keep it as safe as possible for all cakes.

I prefer the taste of the cake part when it has been filled and iced before any chilling (I can tell the difference).  Once it is completely covered, people including me cannot tell the difference between a "fresh" chilled-overnight cake and a frozen/thawed cake.  They both have a shelf life of several days in the fridge between servings. It's easy  to stick a piece of plastic wrap onto the cut part when it is cold.

I don't bother making any claims like "never frozen" because that is MY problem not the customer's.  I tell them how to take care of their cake after they get it home, and they are happy with the results.

thank you guys, and thank for the laugh memphis 

so when you're chilling the cake in the fridge i'm assuming you don't wrap it or cover it ?

Me? Yes. I store the decorated cake in there uncovered until I get the box made. When I buy a frige I make sure I have a big area to hold cakes like this.

I have to bake a cake for Saturday morning to be used in a decorating class that I'm taking.  I want to make the cake Thursday evening.  After reading other posts, I'm planning on wrapping the cake in saran wrap once it has cooled completely.  Should I leave it out on the counter or freeze it?

Personally, I would freeze it and take it out on Saturday morning.

AI'm new to freezing...I froze a small 6" layer a couple weeks ago, and took it out last Friday, iced it and used it Saturday morning for my son's smash cake. I tasted a bite of it and it seemed ok, but I did notice that there was a damp/wet place on the very top...I guess from thawing. I was able to make it work, but is that normal? Is there a way to avoid that when freezing/thawing? I had it wrapped in cling wrap and a layer of foil.