I'm Convinced...freezing Cakes Rocks!!!
Decorating By Maria925 Updated 28 Nov 2016 , 2:14am by Mrs_Smith85
QUESTION: i tried this for the first time last week because i had way too many cakes to make but it was a disaster! can someone tell me what to do! i pulled it out the freezer and let it come back to room temp and i began working. i leveled them before putting them in the freezer so at this point i just needed to fill and crumbcoat. it was horrible! my cake kept lifting. i thought maybe my buttercream was too thick so i made it thinner and it didnt work. i gave up on that cakebecause it was a complete loss! the whole left side was gone. it was lifted as i tried to frost. Sorry so long. so i guess my question is. Where did i go wrong lol!
I've never frozen a cake before, but after reading all these comments I will start to.
QUESTION: i tried this for the first time last week because i had way too many cakes to make but it was a disaster! can someone tell me what to do! i pulled it out the freezer and let it come back to room temp and i began working. i leveled them before putting them in the freezer so at this point i just needed to fill and crumbcoat. it was horrible! my cake kept lifting. i thought maybe my buttercream was too thick so i made it thinner and it didnt work. i gave up on that cakebecause it was a complete loss! the whole left side was gone. it was lifted as i tried to frost. Sorry so long. so i guess my question is. Where did i go wrong lol!
How did you thaw it?
My cakes have always been moist(unless over baked accidently) but I tried freezing for a week once, and it was teribly dry.so I never tried that again...if it aint broke dont fix it haha..I wish I had better luck with freezing but maybe I wrapped wrong....someday I will try again, would be nice to have some ahead made.
Ok - that's how I thaw also or in the fridge wrapped. Wrapped is the key, so I don't know why it was like that, maybe the recipe?? Sorry!
Was it completely thawed when you iced it or was it still cold? If the cake is cold that can change the consistency of your icing and make it tough to spread, especially if your recipe has a lot of butter in it (like mine). I never ice cakes cold.
As for wrapping and freezing, I wrap mine in plastic wrap and then in foil. I prefer the texture of my cakes after they are frozen.
I would not recommend freezing all your cakes. There are some recipes that do not do well when thawed. For instance, a red velvet cake made with oil and cake flour. It will get way too moist and just impossible to decorate when thawed. I usually put two tablespoon of oil in my yellow cake recipes to because a cake made with butter does not come back to room temperature the same way as oil.
I have tried several scratch red velvet recipes which are fine when they are thawed. I have also successfully decorated scratch pumpkin spice cakes which have a lot of moisture and they were fine.
A lot of it is how you thaw the cakes. I always leave them in their wrappers while they thaw completely on the counter.
I don't freeze my cakes currently... I have before... Right now I wrap them in plastic wrap (2 layers) within 2 minutes of coming out of the oven. Then I stack the 2nd cake on top also covered in plastic wrap. They take almost 4 hours to cool. But they are SOOOO moist.
Yes I let mine cool enough that they are not steamy hot then wrap loose with wax paper....then when they are a little more cooled I wrap with plastic wrap and seal them.....they are still a bit warm....and my cakes are really moist....I must have not wrapped mine right when I froze them because they were so dry omg...someone said you can only freeze for a couple days.......so I don't know....just hasnt worked for me darn it
HI Everyone,
My first post here from Australia Just discovered this forum and this freezing thread and it's awesome. I've just started cake decorating and I've only used ganache to crumb and ice between the layers and then the whole cake before covering in fondant. So can I just check this with everyone...
1. Does torte mean splitting the cake in half or thirds?
2. And when you say ice/icing the cake - what medium do you mean? buttercream or can it be ganache as well?
3. Can I freeze a ganached cake? If yes, how long do I wait during the thawing process before I cover with fondant?
Thanks!!! So thrilled to be in an arena with so much cake knowledge. Looking forward to your replies.
QUESTION: i tried this for the first time last week because i had way too many cakes to make but it was a disaster! can someone tell me what to do! i pulled it out the freezer and let it come back to room temp and i began working. i leveled them before putting them in the freezer so at this point i just needed to fill and crumbcoat. it was horrible! my cake kept lifting. i thought maybe my buttercream was too thick so i made it thinner and it didnt work. i gave up on that cakebecause it was a complete loss! the whole left side was gone. it was lifted as i tried to frost. Sorry so long. so i guess my question is. Where did i go wrong lol!
From what I've read on this thread, your cake wouldn't have lifted like that if you'd frosted it frozen. I'd frozen my daughter's wedding cake after I filled & crumbcoated it. I let it partially thaw before attempting to put the final coat of buttercream on and it was a mess, too. The crumbcoat got soft and would lift as I spread the next layer, bringing cake with it. I ended up scraping off the crumb coat and starting over - cake was completely thawed by then. Now I know not to thaw before frosting!
HI Everyone,
My first post here from Australia Just discovered this forum and this freezing thread and it's awesome. I've just started cake decorating and I've only used ganache to crumb and ice between the layers and then the whole cake before covering in fondant. So can I just check this with everyone...
1. Does torte mean splitting the cake in half or thirds?
2. And when you say ice/icing the cake - what medium do you mean? buttercream or can it be ganache as well?
3. Can I freeze a ganached cake? If yes, how long do I wait during the thawing process before I cover with fondant?
Thanks!!! So thrilled to be in an arena with so much cake knowledge. Looking forward to your replies.
Greetings! Yes, torte means splitting the layers. We have a few legendary Aussies on this site that constantly correct us silly Americans because I believe to you, a torte is a type of cake, splitting your layers is "tort". Right? Anyway, yes it means split your layers.
To ice a cake is to cover in frosting in some form. Many people here use "icing" which consists of shortening and confectioner's sugar, which is where (I believe) the term "ice the cake" came from. But lots of people call that same icing incorrectly "buttercream" since it contains no butter or cream, so don't get too confused by that. And them some of us use real buttercream. But I digress... Using ganache on cakes is sort of new here, and not many do it, we mostly use icing or buttercream.
I would not freeze a decorated cake. I haven't read the entire thread so I don't know what others have said, but personally? No. All my cakes, as soon as they are turned out on cooking racks, go straight in the freezer. Once they are par frozen, I double wrap in plastic and leave for at least overnight if I have the time. Or sometimes if I know I will be using them the next day I don't bother wrapping, but I have a sub-zero in my bakery and they freeze FAST. Sometimes they defrost in the wrapping, sometimes not. I haven't noticed any difference in how "moist" the cake is (man, I hate that word. "Moist" is my underarms after I run 3 miles). I try and tort my layers when they are still par frozen to handle them easily but after just slicing the pad off my ring finger trying to split a too-frozen cake, I'm now waiting until they are more defrosted
We also don't make mud cakes here, which I think is mostly what you make there, so I'm not sure if freezing will help you much since your muds are supposed to mature in the fridge for several days for best flavor. I can't remember what my Aussie pals say about freezing them.
Jen
Thanks for clarifying things Jen.
I'm making a banana bread tonight and will try it out.
Jo
Cake is much more forgiving! Cake is your friend!
My hips would NOT agree! LOL!
Jen,
I pull my cakes out of the freezer an hour or so before I decorate and let them thaw while still wrapped.
I wrap my cakes warm. It makes sense that the steam that comes from the cooling process will crystalize inside the wrapping and then, when thawing, will soak back into the cake. People go crazy about a moist cake!
Jen,
I pull my cakes out of the freezer an hour or so before I decorate and let them thaw while still wrapped.
I wrap my cakes warm. It makes sense that the steam that comes from the cooling process will crystalize inside the wrapping and then, when thawing, will soak back into the cake. People go crazy about a moist cake!
This could also cause them to be sticky or gooey on the top. I've found that if I cover them with wax paper before wrapping in plastic wrap, this is not so much of a problem.
I suppose one has to experiment and find out what works for them.
5 years of caking...never had a problem with a cake being gooey.
Fellow cake freezer here. Even if I need to decorate the cake in a few hours I still put the completely cooled cake (wrapped, and zip locked) in the freezer. I feel like the freezer 'matures' the texture and flavor of the cake. I typically leave it in the wrappings on the counter to come to room temp, then I fill and crumb coat e.t.c.
I've tried torting before and after freezing, no difference. I've had success with both butter-based, and oil based recipes.
Does freezing apply to any cake recipe?....n how long before I take it out to thaw?
I normally wrap my cakes in plastic wrap after they've cooled in the pan. I did that as normal, then put another layer of plastic wrap on, and then wrapped it in 2 layers of tin foil. I don't know if that was overkill or not, but I was nervous about freezing the cake...LOL!
I didn't torte first because I felt my cake was too fragile at that point (but I know alot of people torte before freezing). I pulled the cakes out of the freezer Sunday late evening before going to bed and I torted & crumbcoated Monday morning. They were completely thawed at that point. I left them wrapped up until they were thawed.
I notice most people say they wrap and freeze their cakes after they cool completely....I don't. Out of the oven, I let my cakes cool 5-10 minutes in the pan, then turn them out, level them with the cake leveler, then wrap them immediately and pop them into the upright freezer. When I ice them, I ice them from the frozen state...especially with the upside down method.....then they go into the cooler to come up to refrigeration temp slowly.....generally overnight. My cakes stay in the cooler anytime they are not being worked on up until they are boxed for delivery. I have never had a complaint about moistness....that's probably the number one comment I get along with how good they taste. Freezing cakes has gotten such a bad rap over the years....and I agree to a point. If your cake was baked months ago in a factory and delivered by truck, it might not be so good. But a cake baked and frozen a day or so ahead can turn out terrific!
Cool cake and tort then double plastic wrap
- Tight enough not to slide around in the plastic wrap but not so tight it distorts the cake.
Freeze until needed
- Have used a cake up to 9mos old but that was for personal, usually no more than 30 days for someone else.
Take out either night before or morning of icing day depending if it's a "school" day
- Cake usually defrosts in 30min - 1hr
Unwrap thawed cake, if the top is a bit sticky (sometimes happens with the doctored mix cakes). Let sit for 15-30min unwrapped to let condensation dry.
Fill & settle overnight.
Ice and decorate next day.
Cakes are always plenty moist.
I know this is an older thread...but I'm interested in cooking ahead and freezing my cakes.
1. Is there a difference in freezing a cake in a commercial freezer and the home freezer? (I use a commercial freezer)
2. Also do I thaw it in the refrigerator or on the counter?
3. What's the least amount of time I can freeze the cake? (like 1-3 days... is that enough time to help lock in the moisture)
Thanks in advance
I read that red velvet doesn't freeze well (becomes too moist?). I was planning to make that for this weekend and try the freezing method for the first time. Should I stay away from freezing if it's red velvet or does it not matter what kind of cake it is?
thanks
Sugar inverts at certain temperatures, so freezing your cake is like having it syrup itself! I love freezing cakes. Every one of mine are frozen even if it is only for one day. I level and torte them while they are still partially frozen. Wrap it back up and let it come to room temperature before I start decorating. As one of my fav characters would said "Science B!*%HS" :)
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