Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

It only takes about half an hour or less ….. not long to wait. It changes colour and becomes slightly lighter. Image it as a face mask! All you need do in touch it gently with your fingers to feel the consistency. Keep the cake in a cardboard box while you’re waiting, it keeps it safe from being accidentally bumped and keeps off airborne dust.
If you want to place it in the fridge for a while thats fine too. However, there will be some condensation on the cake as it comes back to room temp. Let the dew evaporate ( a few minutes), the cake will be tacky and just right for icing. Please do have a peek at Paul’s free lessons, I think they will be of great help to you.

When the ganache has formed a nice protective shell over the cake and feels just tacky to the touch. If the ganache becomes too dry, the surface will need to be moistened to enable the sugarpaste to stick. This can be done in a variety of ways eg spritz gently with cooled boiled water, moisten with a pastry brush dipped in boiled water (hot, but be careful not to over wet the cake) or use a palett knife dipped in boiling water to gently melt the ganache slightly to make it tacky. Some people like to smear the surface of the cake with trex because they find it gives them more time to move the sugarpaste if its not place quite right. To prevent airbubbles forming under the sugarpaste, it is important to try and form an all over tack without missing some areas.
All these things are covered in the free section of the site https://www.cakeflix.com/free-online-cake-decorating-courses
For frozen cakes, depending on size, take cake out of the freezer the night before it is required and defrost on the work top still covered in clingfilm and in the cake box. This helps to retain moisture in the cake and also keeps it clean from airborne dust.

Thank you for your answer. For the ganache to form a shell and remain tacky is this a matter of minutes/hours/days? In the fridge or out? Thank you for your time!

Fantastic thank you!