I know this has been discussed, but here are some new thoughts I'm having:

I have always been a self-confessed "fresh cakes only" snob, and always felt sure that cakes can't be as good after being frozen.

However, I'm starting to possibly change my mind, after having brides rave about samples that have, in fact, been frozen, some as long as a month. hmm I double wrap with Glad Press-Seal and then also seal them in a freezer Zip-Loc with the air squeezed out, so they're really sealed.

We have lately defrosted several cakes I've frozen for various lengths of time, sort of as an experiment, to see if they taste "off" or "frozen". I have to say that I haven't noticed a bit of "off"-ness, and in fact have noticed them to seem a bit more moist, to my surprise. I just had some of my favorite chocolate fudge cake that I froze on (yes) January 29, and it was terrific. No one was more surprised than me!

I doubt that I'm going to start making and freezing wedding cakes months in advance, but it's very stress-reducing to know I can bake them at least the week (or more than one day) ahead and pop them in the freezer briefly and not feel they will suffer, taste-wise. Then I can defrost and decorate and ENJOY the process without going into a baking frenzy at the last minute.

I know many of my favorite decorators advocate both sides: "fresh only, never frozen" or "just out of the freezer, and as fresh as if it was 30 minutes out of the oven!"

I feel strange coming around to the idea of freezing, but it's starting to grow on me.

Any thoughts?

I never used to freeze, but I have started lately. I don't usually keep them after 2 weeks though. It is nice to have extra cake for those last minute orders that I can squeeze in because I do have cake made. I probably do 6-9 cakes a week now, and I hate doing all that baking at one time, and I never know what will come up with 4 children.

I think freezing cakes is a godsend. Wrapped properly, I think cakes actually improve in the freezer. I recently had a tasting and I pulled some cupcakes out of the freezer that were probably a couple of months old, double bagged in ziploc freezer bags. I doubted they could be good because I don't usually let things sit that long, but they were delicious. I couldn't do wedding cakes if I couldn't freeze them ahead of time.

Awsome...I'm starting to think this freezing idea is really going to be a godsend too. Especially since I have a couple of weekends this summer with 3 cakes in one day, or 3 cakes in two days, and lots of drive time.

You can freeze cakes for up to a year and they would still taste fresh. Apparently!!!! I've never tried it for that long. However, I've tried for 4 months, and they taste better than fresh. No joking!!!

I just added to a post about last minute cake request and mentioned we should all start a new wave of having an 8" round and square cake for the people who forget about their son's birthday the next day! I was kind of just joking, but I have also started to freeze cakes lately and the taste has been just as good. I have few in the freezer now and like you homecook, I am going to test them out soon. Just dont have a personal reason yet. I dont like to eat cake everyday!

This might be the aswer that all those last minute orderers could live with!

http://forum.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=2469231#2469231

To all a good night and good luck!

I am addicted to this site and it's really bad.
Someone posted something to me a few weeks ago, after I asked about a group for my addiction, and they said, "We tried, only problem, no-one would log off long enough for us to get together!"

Their is nothing wrong with freezing cakes as long as they are wrapped good and you keeping a box or two of baking soda in the freezer. I just baked my son cakes for his birthday in may. Also just make the cookies that are going to be part of the favors for the guests plus cookies for a baby shower in May too. I work full time and if I bake a cake in the morning and have to decorate in the same it seems to have more crumbs and you are just more frustrated. Baking a day or two, or two weeks or a month ahead of time is fine. You are less stress and you can enjoy putting the cake together.

Well, if I'm not mistaken, my Toba Garrett's book says the chocolate fudge cake will keep for 2 months frozen.

So, if it's good enough for her , it's good enough for me. Wonder when I get to start charging $78 a serving, though, LOL.

I have alot of experience with this subject of freezing cakes! I have done this successfully for years, and I'm convinced that something "happens" in the freezer - - they always taste better! More moist and delicious and it gives us compulsive bakers a little break (unless we're baking something else!) which I usually am!
JoJo Mick

I used to be one of those 'never frozen' snobs, too! It's nice to know the 12-step program works!

Here's a story I posted re: this on another thread:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-238441-3.html+weeks (cut-n-pasted below):

Quote:

Originally Posted by indydebi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phoov

I freeze single layers all the time. Have NEVER had anyone notice a difference in taste. I wrap them well in either zip-loks or saran wrap. I believe that they are more moist after having been frozen. Heard a girl rant once that she could always taste a cake that had been frozen. I'm not believing it! LOL .....

Double ditto! Had a bride tell me she hated frozen cake and raved over the sample she was eating. So I said, "You want your cake to taste just like that one then, right?" As she nodded in agreement (too busy eating cake!), it was really fun to watch her face as I told her, "that cake has been in my freezer for 3 weeks."

Ok then, we will have to STOP telling people our cakes are better because they are fresh and the stores, Walmart, Costco and so on only has frozen ones. Maybe that's why they freeze them?

Can't we just keep it a secret?

well....... mine aren't baked a few states away and then shipped out to various location and then held in frozen storage for a year. Can I use that story, (which was shared by a walmart employee)?

Maybe we're just trying to "have our cake and eat it too!"

Maybe the difference with the "other" frozen cake places (no names, no blame, heh heh), is that the frozen cakes (aside from shipping from who knows where and being held for who knows how long) are kept unwrapped...?

I had a fellow experienced cake decorator tell me that she knew from experience that some big chain bakeries have their frozen cakes shipped in and keep them on bakery racks in the open air of a walk-in freezer until they are needed. The cakes are brought in as large sheet cakes. Then when they need, say, an 8" round, they simply take an 8" round cutter and jam it down through the cake to cut out the piece they need, like making biscuits.

could be....

We could start a "frozen cake isn't bad, if you do it right" revolution.

I had the same thing happen as someone mentioned--A doctor I recently did a wedding for, when they sampled my chocolate cake (which had been, yes, FROZEN), he said, "Do exactly what you did on that one, only bigger. That cake ROCKED."

So there you have it. Proof.

I only bake as a hobby for family and friends who reimburse me for ingredients plus a little extra. I also have a full time job, hubby and 2 little boys. I enjoy baking and decorating immensely its my de-stresser. But there is no way I mean no way I could do this hobby if I didn't bake and freeze. Next week I'm taking 113 decorated cupcakes to the school where I work. Two weeks later, another 108. It would be impossible without my standup freezer. Right now I have 95 cupcakes in there and will probabably bake a couple more batches this week. No one, not even me can tell the difference. When I eat my own cake I forget that it's been frozen.

I love my freezer!!!! Count me in the freezer club!!

I never really thought of freezing cakes. I do this as a hobby, but I love it. It would be a huge help when I have b-day cakes close together.

The restaurant/bakery where I work at also bakes a slew of cakes on "baking" day and then leaves them unwrapped on cookies sheets in a huge walk-in fridge. That can't be good for their cakes. If fact, I think the cakes are dry and tasteless. Must be why my fellow waitresses want me to do their cakes instead of getting them from our in-house bakery! Gotta love it!!

I was a snob too, until I started making wedding cakes and large party cakes. I work full time and there is no way I could bake all those layers at one time. My other smaller cakes are never frozen, but tasting small pieces from the freezer taste fine to me. I think I will have to rethink that never frozen issue too. When I have a lot of cakes to do, that would save me from baking 4-5 night per week.

I'm seriously loving the path this discussion is following bcos its been a serious cause for concern in my business.I've been baking from home for a while and it wasnt such a problem selling fresh cakes bcos the orders were well spaced apart but now that I've opened a cake shop with a lot more orders boy! freezing seems to be the best solution and I'm grateful to all previous contributors for the tips on wrapping up cakes securely I'll keep u posted on how things turn out

OMG, I am sooo glad I stumbled across this thread.
"Hi, I'm shay and I am a 'FC snob'. Now that I have admitted that I have an addiction, can someone please help me kick the habit??!!! i've been going back and forth with this frsh/frozen thing in my mind for the longest. I am so appreciative of all the comments and tips on freezing as I have been wanting to experiment to test the taste and just could not find the time.

I never thought about making cookie balls and freezing, but that's what they do in the cookie chain stores. I cut sugar cookies and freeze and never even thought about frozen balls . Thanks Indydebi.

When I bake at home, I usually end up freezing my cake for some length of time.

Now, I do work for Publix, and we also keep our cakes in a freezer. However our central baking warehouse is about 1 county away. We receive shipments 3 days a week, and are told to order only enough cake to last in between shipments. Our manager will get in trouble if there is too much cake in the freezer. We also rotate everything to make sure that any cake left in the freezer is used before the new stuff (FIFO).

I cant believe that some stores cut their cakes out of sheets. That seems like an unbelievable amount of waste.

Just had to weigh in on this one. I agree, your freezer is your BEST friend! I earned a pastry certificate at our local community college about 18 months ago, and one of the first things we learned about production is how to use the freezer to your advantage. We froze cakes already torted and cookie "balls" or "scoops" as we referred to them. The course was taught by a highly respected pastry chef in the area, so I have never questioned using the freezer. I do the same thing at my home business now. If a customer wants a wide variety of cookies, all I have to do is pull out those individually frozen cookies, fire up my oven, and in no time, I can have an order ready to go.