I baked a 12x18 sheet cake last night for a birthday party on Saturday, wrapped it and froze it. I plan on icing and decorating probably Friday night/Saturday morning. Can I do this straight from the freezer (if I start Friday night) and it would be completely thawed by Saturday (party is at 2:00)? Or will the process of the cake thawing mess up the icing somehow? Thanks for any help!

I have always heard it has to thaw first because the icing will crack.

Hi! I would advise that you wait until the cake has defrosted. The condensation might mess up your icing. That is what I have always been told! Good luck with your cake!
traci

take it out of the freeer Friday morning and you'll be just fine.

Debbi

Thanks everyone! I'll take it out before I leave for work Friday morning and plan to frost it that evening.

I know some people who swear that icing a cake frozen will cause blow-outs... I always ice my cakes after they have thawed and I have never had a problem with blow outs. It might depend on the weather in your area.

One more question.....I forgot to put a simple syrup on the cake before I froze it. Can I do that after it's defrosted? Or do you think it will be fine without it? I used Pillsbury Dark Chocolate cake mix. Also, what recipe should I use for simple syrup? Thanks!

potatocakes, if you used a box mix, you won't need a simple syrup. Scratch cakes are generally dryer than miixes and you need a simple syrup for them. Also, freezing adds a little moisture. One tip for you is to defrost the cakes with the wrappers still on. This way the condensation builds on the wrapper and not your cake.

I always do a simple syrup after it's thawed. I'd think that adding a syrup, freezing, and then thawing would alter the texture or crumb some how.

Sorry I missed this post earlier tonight. The following is what I posted on another topic about freezing cakes. It has always worked for me when I need to ice frozen.

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions! Wouldn't you know it -- I'm halfway to work this morning and all of a sudden I remember that I didn't set the cake out to thaw! So I was happy to see leily's response as I was so worried about the cake messing up if I ice it frozen. I'll set it out as soon as I get home, and hopefully by the time I get the icing made up and another cake mixed and in the oven (for my sister's birthday tomorrow), then the cake will be thawed enough to ice without any damage. Thanks again! I love the helpful advice I always get here at CC!

hello i am baking a cake tommrow and freze it for about 5 hours them taking it out and filling and icing it would i be able to place my fondant letters and boarder on the cake while frozen also if i was to fill and ice the cake while froxen and i decided to cover it all in foundant could i while its frozen?

Ahello i am baking a cake tommrow and freze it for about 5 hours them taking it out and filling and icing it would i be able to place my fondant letters and boarder on the cake while frozen also if i was to fill and ice the cake while froxen and i decided to cover it all in foundant could i while its frozen?

I always crumb-coat my cakes while they are frozen.  Especially bigger cakes, because handling them if they aren't solid can be suuuuuuch a disaster! ;-).  Then, pop them in the fridge to finish thawing. I will put the finish on (final coat and smoothing) after they have completely thawed.

And honestly, in time crunches, I have worked with everthing frozen.  As long as it mostly un-thaws in the fridge (as opposed to room-temp), I don't get cracks.