Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi, I have been asked to make a berry flavoured cake. The cake batter will be made and I am planning on adding pureed frozen berries, plus some extract for more flavour.

I am not sure about the longevity of a cake like this.

Can I bake it a week in advance and freeze it? and decorate the day before it is needed?

I am not sure how else to go about this

Thanks in advance for any help

Hi Allthingspretty

The problem with freezing fresh berry puree is the amount of liquid it will form once the cake is defrosted.
Instead of puree you could use jam preserves or freeze dried fruit which is made into a paste with a little water and added to either cake batter or buttercream/ganache. You’ll find fruit flavoures here:
http://www.thecakedecoratingcompany.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=643&osCsid=d87jrhd6khi5cmqsq47t6kttu6
I have used all of them and find the Nutrafruit and the Mallard ferrier the best for intensity. Expensive but worth the money.
Other good intense professional flavours which I have used can be found here http://www.foodieflavours.com/
Cakes containing fresh fruit have a substanially lower shelf life as they can be prone to weeping and moulding.
That’s just my opinion from personal experience, other members will have other opinions.

Thanks so much, I baked the cake by crushing the berries with some water and mixing it to the cake batter, I have now frozen the cake hoping to take it out in a week to decorate. Do you think this would make for a bad cake? As in its shelf life? because I have wrapped it well and will decorate on the day of the party. how many days do you think its will be good for?

The shelf life is fine in the freezer, it won’t go bad, I was concerned that you would have it out for a few days decorating. If you’re decorating on the day of the event the cake should be fine. Hopefully most of the moisture from the fruit will have baked off. I wouldn’t like to say any more than two to three days after that. My own birthday lasted two days before it began weeping using whole fruit so you may get away with three. I didn’t cover my cake in sugarpaste because I knew from it’s feel it would go a bit weird, it felt more moist/wet. If your cake didn’t feel wettish you should be ok with sugar paste, I hope so any ways. Cake sounds absolutely delicious, I’m going to try it with my bulging pick of blackberries!