So this week I made my daughters 16th birthday cake. To save myself time I bake the cake last week and froze it. This is the first time I have ever frozen a cake. I must have had it wrapped up good because the cake was super moist and tasted super awesome. However it was a complete nightmare to frost! I couldn't even get the crumb coat to go on. Every time I swapped my spatula over the top or the side of the cake the cake came off along with the icing right back onto my spatula. I have a wedding cake and I grooms cake coming up. I was going to freeze both of them. But, if they are going to be so moist that I can't frost them quickly and without trouble it's really not saving me time to do that. Does anyone have any tips for preventing the sticky mess?

Your icing could have been too thick...

If that wasn't the case, you could try an icing tip... really large, one side flat, one side spiky... see the following link...

http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=0214FA8A-0522-7247-E7EA6A8C49680DA4&killnav=1

I don't think it was too thick. It was the same as it usually is. It was the fact that the cake was just wet like on the outside. I guess because of condensation that gathered when defrosting? I ended up frosting using the large flat top but that's noty preferred method. 

Next time I'd try leaving the cake out until the surface dries before icing it.

Was it room temp when you started frosting it? And if so, did you keep it wrapped when you defrosted it?

It was room temp when frosting.  I keep thinking I should have kept it partially frozen but I have heard not to do that when froating with American bc. I did have it wrapped during the thawing process.  

I would leave it wrapped and defrost it in the refrigerator so that it happens slowly. Then I would use an icing tip with a large bag.

Robert

I freeze my cakes and ice them while still frozen.  I guess I missed the 'what not to do' on that one, but I don't have any issues doing it that way.  And I use ABC.

I freeze my cakes and ice them while still frozen.  I guess I missed the 'what not to do' on that one, but I don't have any issues doing it that way.  And I use ABC.

@640Cake. I think I'm going to give that a try. It's worth a shot!

I fill and ice my cake from frozen all the time...no crumb coat either.  Once iced they go into the cooler for a few hours to rise above room temperature but remain very cold and the buttercream is nice and solid to work on....never had an issue!

That should say "rise above freezing" not above room tempertaure.

I second that as I frost partial frozen with ABC and it works beautifully!

Ok so this frosting while frozen sounds promising. So do you guys wrap your cakes and put them in the freezer warm? That's what I did but I think that's where the extra moisture came in at. So maybe I should let them cool first then wrap and freeze. I had read somewhere to wrap them warm to keep the cake moist. Also, I guess I would need to torte them before freezing right? And, after you frost and put back in the refrigerator how long does it take for it to completely thaw and ready to put all the other decorations on? I'm thinking overnight maybe? I read on another forum where everyone was saying that their icing always cracked on the cakes they iced when frozen. Has that happened to any of you? Any ideas on how to prevent that? 

I bake my cakes, cool 5 minutes for 10 inch and under, 10 for larger, remove from pan, level immediately, wrap in plastic then straight to the freezer at least overnight...I prefer a full 24 hours in the freezer but sometimes production demand just don't allow it.

If you want to torte, yes, so that before freezing.  All my cakes are three layers, about 11/2 inches thick so that a finished tier comes out right at about 5 inches tall.

I let mine sit in the cooler about two hours before working on them...then they are in and out of the cooler as needed depending on the decorating being done.  They do always spend overnight in the cooler.  Boxed for delivery and I recommend the client allow a couple to three hours, depending on the size/type cake, to allow the cake to come to serving temperature.

I have not had problems with icing cracking....may depend on the buttercream used.