Hi!

My sister's friend wants me to make her wedding cake to save on money, which I would love to do, but I don't know if the timing of everything would work out and lend to a really fresh, yummy cake on the day of her wedding...

Her wedding is on a Saturday, but because of my work schedule and the fact that the wedding is out of town, I would have to make the cake on Thursday night and frost it either late Thursday or early Friday morning. The cake she likes would be small (maybe a 9" and 6") and frosted in all buttercream.

Do you all think the cake would stay fresh until Saturday? Would the icing harden a lot? Is there any type of icing I could use that would hold up better? I would be making the cake as a favor, but I definitely don't want to agree t it if you all think it would taste like crap...

Any advice or suggestions?

Thanks!

I bake on Wednesdays for Saturday delivery and the cake stays fresh. Any bc would work and won't get that hard (there are a bunch of bc recipes here). I don't frost the same day i bake as cakes need to settle overnight.

When do you usually frost the cake? Thursday or Friday?

Do you think it would be ok if it wasn't going to be refrigerated for sure?

For sure! As long as you aren't using any filling that requires refrigeration, it will be fine on the counter at room temp. Most cakes taste best on day 4 or 5.

I bake on Wednesday, crumb coat on Thursday and then finish on Friday for Saturday deliveries. This makes a cake more moist and tasty.

Do you freeze in between baking and crumb coating? Also, once you crumb coat do you put it in the fridge or just leave it on the counter?

Does it sound feasible if I were to bake on Sunday, freeze, take out Thursday morning to thaw, and then crumb coat frost Thursday night? The cake is just two tiers and they want it frosted really roughly with the lines of the spatula in it, so I don't think I'd have to worry about the cake settling too much...

I bake on Thursdays, decorate on Fridays, then deliver on Saturdays. I don't freeze anything, so you don't need to do that if you don't want to.

If you do bake in advance and freeze it, the timeline you suggested sounds fine.

Definately bake your cakes ahead of time and freeze them since you are working full time, it will save you so much time and headache later. You can normally freeze them for a few months or so, but I rarely keep my cakes in the freezer for longer than a week or two. (make sure you wrap them really good after they have completely cooled). I have even baked my cakes one night, put in the freezer overnight to decorate the next day. Some like it and some don't, but I find the cake is moister when doing that.

Take it out of the freezer Thursday morning. Let the cake thaw in the wrapping and crumb coat/decorate as usual that night. Unless the cake has a perishable filling or icing, there is no need to refrigerate, in fact it will dry the cake out. The icing seals in the moisture.

Ok, thanks for the help!

Have fun!

Thank goodness for this post! I'm in the same boat... I just got off the phone with a customer who ordered a cake and it's for next Saturday! I have baked my cakes, mixed the buttercreams because I thought it was for tomorrow I will wrap my red velvet cakes tightly and put them in the freezer.

I realized that next weekend I will be out of town leaving Thursday afternoon and will have to deliver to the client by Thursday morning. Should I tell her to store it in the fridge or on the countertop (it will be buttercream with fondant accents)?

Now I don't know what type of filling to use if its potentially going to be left out on a counter....

Don't store it in the fridge unless it has a perishable filling (like fruit). I always just use whatever I am icing the cake with as the filling. The buttercream icing will "seal" the cake. Just tell her to keep it out of the sunlight. I think the cake will be fine until Saturday.

"I bake on Thursdays, decorate on Fridays, then deliver on Saturdays. I don't freeze anything, so you don't need to do that if you don't want to. "

I do the same. I find if I bake and decorate the same day I have a heck of a time because the cake is so soft. Much better for it to sit over night.

I will do that - I am going to crumb coat and ice tomorrow morning - let it settle and then do the decorating wednesday night. I am so grateful for the advice (I've been stressing about what to do since I have never baked a week ahead of schedule). I'm a Thursday bake/Friday make/Saturday take kind of person!

Thanks!

(if they had a GRATEFUL emoticon on CC - I'd be inserting here!!)

You weren't going to try to bake a 3-tier wedding cake on the saturday morning of the wedding, were you?

I would bake on Monday or Tuesday and freeze the cakes, then pull them out on Thrusday or Friday (depending on volume and schedule) to ice and decorate. I never referigerated my cakes.

In Baking World, the freezer is your friend, not your enemy!