So it's been a loooong time since I've done a carved cake of any kind and I just need a little refresher/guidance. I'm doing tapered, topsy turvy layers. I have each layer all torted, filled and wrapped up in the freezer. I know I carve them while they are frozen/semi-frozen. My question is: do I frost and cover in fondant while they're still semi frozen? Will the thawing mess up the whole thing? I'm using IMBC under the fondant on one tier and ganache under it one the other. I've done this before and it turned out great and it's driving me CRAZY that I don't remember the "process" for it!! Thanks in advance, any advice would be extremely welcomed!

Hellooooooooooo?? Anybody out there???? *crickets chirping*

It can be cold, but not frozen. Frozen cake expands as it thaws so it can crack your ganache and fondant as it comes to room temperature.

Good luck!

I usually take the cake out of the freezer, carve (by the time I'm done with that, the cake is thawed, though still cold), and crumbcoat, then let the cake settle (as short as a couple hours or as long as overnight) before frosting.

Holly

Yeah let it mostly thaw and cover it while its just cool and firm; the air inside the cake expands as the cake thaws so you'll get bubbles under your fondant if the cake is too cold when you cover it plus if its really cold condensation will form and make the fondant super sticky and you'll have to leave it out all night to firm up

I carve everything at room temp so that there's no chance of any of that. Also, if the cake is going to tip over when it thaws you'll know before it happens.

Thanks everyone! I'll start carving when it's semi-frozen so I figure by the time I finish carving both tiers it should be pretty close to thawed/ready to cover. Fingers crossed! For better or worse, I'll let everyone know how it turned out & post pics!!

Yay! My carving turned out A-ok! I ran out of time to finish all the do-dads I planned, but the structure of the cake was great, no cracks, bulges or any other issues. Thanks so much again for the refresher course you guys gave me!!

I love it! Great job! Your cheshire cat is awesome!