
Hi Everyone,
I was just reading another post about fresh vs. frozen cakes and wanted to ask your advice on what to do in this case. I currently do not freeze my cakes but after reading all the replies on that post, I just may start to. It certainly would save my back and feet ( and brain funtion )from hours and hours of baking and decorating all in the same day.
My question is for those who freeze cakes, defrost them and who use buttercream frosting to decorate. I've put cakes in the freezer for short periods of time, maybe 30 min to an hour and for longer periods of time, weeks/months and when I go to decorate they are still very cold, although mostly defrosted if they've been in for a long time but the buttercream will not adhere to the cake well at all. And/or it will get beads of "sweat" as it sits out. Should I be waiting to decorate until the cake is totally at room temp? It sounds like many of you decorate them while they are still partly frozen.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
KimAZ

I don't know what the right answer is, but I've decorated a frozen cake before, and it didn't turn out well. As it sat there and defrosted, the icing would start to come off the cake. First I'd see a bubble in the frosting, generally on the side, then it would grow. If I didn't come mash it back to the side of the cake, it would fall off! Of course, the mashing messed up my decorations. So now when I bake ahead, I get the cakes out of the freezer the night before I decorate, so they are thawed by morning.

I would thaw the cake entirely before you do your final coating and decorations. I will be crumbcoating and stacking frozen cakes within the next few days but I plan on putting them right back in the freezer that way until I need to do the final coat and decorations.
This method is great for large or carved cakes.

I don't think I would ice the frozen cake.
I like to put a crumb coat on a chilled cake (in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes or so) which I find drags less crumbs around, but I would make sure it is completely thawed to room temp. before icing.

I don't know how everyone else will respond, but I just did this for the 1st time last weekend. I had them in the freeze for a week so they were good and frozen. I ended up letting them thaw for about 45 min to an hour and then crumb coated them. I aleays let the crumb coat crust for 15-20 minutes and then I frosted as normal. They came out just fine.
Hope this helps!!
Monique


I freeze my cakes days ahead of the party,take them out and let them defrost overnight or at least 8 hours before decorating. I have never had a problem with the buttercream getting "sweat". If you have it already decorated and store in the fridge, make sure you leave it cover till reaches room temperature that way the changes of temp. from fridge to counter does not affect your final decorations. Also I wrap then in clear wrap and them in heavy dutty foil before freezing them and defrost them completely covered so it keeps its moisture.

for whats it is worth....i freeze all my cakes, and i take them out the night before i decorate them. i let them thaw in the plastic wrap. i think the icing falling off has something to do with the expanding when frozen and contracting when thawed process.
i'm not sure about that, but it sounds reasonable.

Same here as previous posters=) I also let my cakes defrost all the way before applying the buttercream=) Jen


I let them thaw completely before icing and decorating. I did ice a cake one time directly from the freezer and it took hours before the icing crusted. Every time I touched the icing to see if had crusted, it was still ice cold. Even though the cake seems to be defrosted, it remains cold for a very long time. Because of this, I now allow all of my cakes to defrost and come to room temperature before icing. It works out much better!!!


I like to ice them while they are frozen, but I sometimes have the "sweating" problem. That only seems to be a problem when there is colored icing as decorations on the cake. I read a post the other day that said that if you decorate it frozen and then put a fan on it as it thaws you the colors won't run. I can't remember where I read that, but it sounds like it would work.

wow...i must be the only one that decorates frozen cakes!!! i have been doing it since i started decorating 12 yrs ago...i take them right outta the freezer and do the decorating because i find i don't get the crumbs in the icing ( i don't crumb coat). i have never had a problem with sweating.

My friend and I just crumb coated three tiers for a wedding cake. The cake was partially thawed, but didn't have any issues with the buttercream adhering to the cake. My question is, we covered the crumb coated cakes in saran wrap and put them back in the freezer. Do we let them thaw all the way before we unwrap them or, since there is a crumb coat of b/c, should we unwrap it first?

wow...i must be the only one that decorates frozen cakes!!! i have been doing it since i started decorating 12 yrs ago...i take them right outta the freezer and do the decorating because i find i don't get the crumbs in the icing ( i don't crumb coat). i have never had a problem with sweating.
Nope - not the only one! I decorate right out of the freezer. LOVE doing it this way - no crumbs to worry about like you said. I remember last year when I was just starting to do cakes that I asked this question and there were several CC'ers that decorate straight from freezer. Never had a problem with sweating or bleeding but I do always use Meringue Powder in my all-crisco BC.
Christine

I don't know what the right answer is, but I've decorated a frozen cake before, and it didn't turn out well. As it sat there and defrosted, the icing would start to come off the cake. First I'd see a bubble in the frosting, generally on the side, then it would grow. If I didn't come mash it back to the side of the cake, it would fall off! Of course, the mashing messed up my decorations. So now when I bake ahead, I get the cakes out of the freezer the night before I decorate, so they are thawed by morning.
I iced several straight from the freezer (only white on white) and never had this problem until last night. My icing didn't come off of the sides, but I got a huge bubble in the middle of the top of the cake! I put a small hole in the bubble and it deflated with no problems. I didn't have any bubbles anywhere else.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%