I am making a three layer, three tier semi-naked wedding cake. I am using a family recipe that is a very moist chocolate cake. I want to be sure that it remains as moist as possible but I am struggling with the prep because I am making this at my vacation house in Florida and transporting one hour to the venue.
The wedding is on Saturday at 4:30. I would like to start baking on Wednesday. Had planned to wrap cakes in plastic and freeze until Friday, put in the fridge on Friday and then decorate on Saturday. Does this sound like a feasible plan? I have been reading that some bakers find the refrigeration/freezing to dry out the cakes.
I have Tuesday through Saturday to complete this task. How would you recommend completing the process while protecting the moistness of the cake?
I rarely freeze cake. When I do freeze, it's usually a sheet cake cut into 2.5" or 3" individual size. Given your timetable, I don't think you need to freeze. I know some bakers believe you'll get a moister cake if you wrap it right out of the oven then freeze. I tried the 5 minute cool and into the freezer a few times and really didn't see a difference.
Some bakers prefer to work with frozen layers to keep buttercream cool. Certainly crumb coating a frozen cake is a bit easier since you don't have to deal with a lot of crumbs.
I learned in an advance multi-day cake workshop to leave the cake in the pan, cool, then double wrap and refrigerate. We did two cakes: chocolate and white. Granted the instructor said she developed the chocolate cake recipe to be very moist, so the real test of the storage method was the white cake. Both cakes were very moist on day two and three as we moved from baking, filling and buttercream making, to actual decorating.
So I use that method of storage now.
Many of us feel Freezing cake helps insure they stay moist. Your timetable is just a bit off in that you should try to have the cake finished by Fri night. That way if anything goes wrong yu will have time to fix it. You say it is a 'semi-naked' cake. I take that to mean there is a light coating of icing on the finished tiers. That will seal in the moisture and no further covering or icing is needed. As for putting the cake in the frig overnight yes, that is what you should do. It's keeping a cake in the frig for more than 48 hr that tends to dry it out. Just be sure to keep it wraped in plastic while in the frig.
I love baking but the logistics of these large projects stress me out. I actually did an experimental tier last night. I cooled in the pan for less than 10 minutes, then cooled on racks. Iced and refrigerated. It seemed to go so quickly that I think I will plan on Friday being my baking and icing day. Do you know if buttercream has to be refrigerated? Just wondering if I might leave it at room temperature until the wedding which is on Saturday at 4:30?
I agree logistics are stressful. I now make schedules of tasks, then complete the work over 3-4 days.
Regarding buttercream, refrigeration depends on type of buttercream. American shortening "buttercream" can be left out for a couple of days. If using an egg and butter based frosting like Swiss meringue buttercream, refrigeration is advisable. Some bakers say you can leave it out for up to 24 hours, but I wouldn't advise it. The wedding is in Florida--hot and humid. Water activity level increases with temperature. Water, temperature, time allow pathogens to grow.
Quote by @KikiSprehe on 3 hours ago
I love baking but the logistics of these large projects stress me out. I actually did an experimental tier last night. I cooled in the pan for less than 10 minutes, then cooled on racks. Iced and refrigerated. It seemed to go so quickly that I think I will plan on Friday being my baking and icing day. Do you know if buttercream has to be refrigerated? Just wondering if I might leave it at room temperature until the wedding which is on Saturday at 4:30?
I worked mainly in American B'cream (this is one of the recipes I used: https://www.cakecentral.com/recipe/22469/2-icing ) for some 3/4th of the time (added fondant late in my 'baking life') but was in hot, dry CA so don't know how to advise you w/FL being humid and hot. I almost never 'friged my b'cream while working w/it and on the cake. Once finished w/that project and nothing else coming up for a couple of days/weeks I would frig it.
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