I have a 4 tier baby shower cake that has to be ready on a Sunday. How many days in advance can I bake a cake in order for it to still stay moist? 

Maybe baking it on Thursday/Friday, crumb coat it, and freeze it. Then on Saturday, completely ice, decorate, and put together with the stacking, followed by the delivery on Sunday? Do you think the cake(s) will hold up properly?

This will be my first large cake to actually do, so I'm pretty nervous and am not sure what steps to follow. I'm afraid that if I freeze it, it will start to sweat once I completely ice it, since it will not be going back into the freezer. 

Thanks in advance for any advice you're willing to give me!  

I wouldn't worry with freezing it. If you bake it Thursday or Friday it will be good until Sunday with no problem. The crumb coat seals the cake so it does not get stale. Most of my cakes are for Saturday events and I bake after work Wednesday night, crumb coat early Thursday and ice and decorate Friday. So your timeline should work just fine without freezing. Good luck!

A⬆️ What she said.

A

ditto exactly!!

AThank y'all so much!

So no freezing at all?

I wouldn't. :-)

I would freeze it - helps the texture of the finished cake. :)

Liz

AFreeze it after the crumb coat? It wont sweat when I will try to add the final icing, now will it? :)

AThank you so much for your advice, I really appreciate it.

AYes, it will sweat as it comes to room temperature, so wait until it's done doing that to add the final coat, but IMO, you're just wasting freezer energy. There is no need to freeze it for freshness' sake.

AHaha, I dont think I will freeze it. I dont like when cakes sweat, it makes me very nervous to the point where I think the cake is ready to collapse

AI would bake and freeze without the icing. Just wrap in plastic wrap while cake is still warm. Put it in the fridge Friday night to thaw then on the counter for about an hour before you decorate on Saturday. I just tried it myself, was a little nervous about it and it worked out beautifully, no sweating. The cake was moist and delicious.

I agree, if it is just a few days, refrigerate the cake layers for a day or two before assembly.  If you want to start earlier, bake the cake layers, torte, level, wrap the individual layers securely and freeze until an hour or two before assembly. Then just loosen the wrap and let thaw. Easy! Doesn't even have to be completely thawed unless you still need to level or torte.    I am a big fan of freezing.  I freeze just about everything, even for a day or two, since I have a full time job and need to spread it out. I also think it actually makes the cakes moister.   SMBC freezes beautifully too, just thaw completely before re whipping. (raspberry filling and lemon curd freeze well too). I have not completely frozen a cake after crumb coating, but I routinely put cakes in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes after crumb coating to firm it up before the final coat.  But based on the above, I might try to freeze an assembled crumb coated cake -   one more step that can be done in advance.  Thanks everybody!

AThanks for all the advice!

Let me know how your cake turns out once youve crumb coated and assembled and froze! :) Just one question: what is SMBC? im new to baking, so im not sure what a lot of the abbreviations everyone uses are.

ASwiss meringue buttercream. Made with egg whites, granulated sugar and butter.