Frosting Frozen Cakes

Not my approach, but glad it works for them

I bake betty crocker and allow to cool in pan before freezing, but betty crocker has no problems becoming or staying moist so i don't need tricks for that. And honestly, that's not good for your freezer (putting in hot right out of the oven items). You could end up unfreezing temporarily other items in the freezer, and over time you could spoil meat or who knows what, and probably burn out your freezer.

As far as decorating a cake frozen, I crumb coat frozen, but I have to wait for the cake to thaw entirely before I put on the final layer of frosting or else the buttercream won't crust properly, and then I can't smooth it. The worst thing you can do is fondant a frozen cake, you'll end up with giant ugly air bubbles all under the fondant when it does finally thaw. Half-thawed isn't good enough either when it comes to fondant, you need a fully room temperature cake.

*slow motion screaming* Noooooooooooo! Ok, now that I got that out, don't try it for a cake order, make a test cake to freeze then decorate. I say this because it truly varies from person to person. My experience? Frosting pulled away from the cake, decorations fell off, condensation formed keeping me being able to smooth, the list goes on. I tried it ONCE.

There's no right or wrong way. I cool mine before I freeze them but I do ice my stuff frozen. I know folks who do the freeze while hot and it works for them very well. I think we all need to do what works for us. And read the thing here by my signature about one baker's never ever...

I have just read on another cake decorating site that you should not do this that the icing will come right off.

I have never done it that way I would be concerned about the moisture from the thawing mixing with the ps in the icing!

But you can freeze a cake iced in buttercream

Banba, I do this, I ice my cakes while they are frozen. My icing does not come off. Some of it is American buttercream some of it is Swiss meringue buttercream.

The only hard and fast rule is that there are no hard and fast rules.

k8memphis -I read your sig line before and meant to tell you that I liked it It is funny isn't it how everyone has a different way of doing things and while it may be right for them it could be disastrous for someone else! What a boring world this would be if everyone did things exactly the same!
That's actually why I suggested trying it for a practice cake, who knows, it could work perfectly! I know for *me* it doesn't but I think it's because I live in a high humid area plus my buttercream recipe.

I've frosted cakes frozen and thawed before with no problems either way. I do have a method for working with frozen cake though. At first I never did it, because my icing would crack on me. Then a friend of mine shared this tip with me and don't ask me how it works, I just know it does. Before you ice the frozen cake, stab it a few times with a knife. You know like how you do for baking potatoes? Just like that. For some reason, my icing doesn't crack then. And I've learned from experience that if the cake is layered, it doesn't matter if the bottom layers are frozen or not, it just matters if the top layer is frozen. If it's thawed, everything's gravy. If it's frozen, still no biggie, just stab it a few time.

I would wait though (of course) to make sure the cake is at room temp before cutting if you iced it while frozen. One time at work I had to make a cake on the fly for a manager that was leaving and we ended up cutting into the cake before it was completely thawed and the icing did peel off a bit. Nothing horrible though.

i saw a video on youtube a while back and it was with this woman who froze her cakes and allowed them to thaw only a little then she used her hand to rub the top layer off and was left with a crumbless cake to frost! cant find that video now though  anyone know where it is? 

I stab frozen cakes with the end of a rose nail, concentrating more in the middle because that's usually where the cake is the thickest.  Once you can move the nail around easily, it's good to go, even if there are little areas which aren't quite thawed all the way.

 

I learned my lesson the hard way years ago:  Icing a frozen cake causes the icing to crack, and there's no way to smooth it out.  The condensation will make anything you put on the icing slip off.  YMMV, but that's what happens to me.
 

 

 

omg--how bold and brazen--can you assure us no cakes were fatally injured during this bakery bludgeon fest???

 

agh--right to the heart--

 

[spirals downward]

 

[gasps for air]

 

[lights dim]...

 

[fade away]...

 

Really depends of the climate where you live too and weather and such toi if the cake thaws slowly your probably good. If its hot out it will most likely get condensation.

I do this all the time.  However I cool my cakes before wrapping and freezing.  I always fill and crumb coat a frozen cake.  Put it back in the fridge to harden a bit and then finish frosting.  Then I decorate and stick back in the fridge for delivery that day or the next.  Buttercream will keep your cake from drying in the fridge but I RARELY go over one night in there.  I always deliver a cold cake in plenty of time to come to room temp before serving.  The cake is moist and fresh and it works out great.

I do not cover my cakes in fondant (only use for decor) so condensation is not an issue with me.  I worked at a bakery and this is what they did.

 

The only condensation issue I've ever had is when I took a frozen cake out and forgot to take the cling wrap off while I did something else and the cake thawed with mushy areas that I noticed when I unwrapped it.  That was one I had packaged while it was a bit warm before freezing.  HTH!

Learning so much here already. A question - how long can you keep a frozen cake? I just bake for family and friends but would love to keep a cake or two crumb coated and ready to go for friends or family dropping by, sudden emergencies, etc. I usually have some icing in the fridge so reading the tips about icing or not a frozen cake has been helpful!