Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

HI all,
I’ve just brought a separate fridge/freezer just for my cake orders.
now I’ve read all the answers about freezing both buttercream and ganached cakes, I’ve never frozen cakes before, so I have done 2 trial cakes one buttercream and one ganached and will freeze for two weeks as that’s the longest I reckon my cakes will be in there..
In the answers MIWL says wrap in several layers of cling film and then box etc ? now as my cakes wont get bumped or be near any other food do I need to put them in the cake box still ? x
Thanks x x

Hi Angie

You won’t need to box your cakes if you have nothing else in the fridge or freezer. However a box can still protect the cake from freezer burn. Since you’re only freezing for a short time, for best results wrap the cakes on a cake card or board and freeze. This will prevent any distortion. Once they are frozen hard, the cakes can be turned on their sides to make more space. xx

Ok thank you can I get them out the freezer in morning and ice and decorate them straight away that day or do I have to defrost them first ?

if so can I defrost in the fridge overnight or does it have to be room temp ? x

thank you once again x

I used to decorate cakes from frozen and found the sugarpaste would take forever to dry, it was horrible. I know some people do, do it. It’s best really to defrost in the fridge the night before. Keep the cake wrapped up to retain the moisture. The cake will be lovely and cold and firm, making ganaching easier. If it’s still slightly frozen don’t worry, because by the time you cut and fill, it will defrost completely. If you defrost at room temp, pop the cake in the fridge to firm up before ganaching or carving. Hope all this makes sense. It’s so lovely having a separate fridge and freezer for cakes and puddings. I did that a couple of years ago, makes life so much easier. x

I know its really making life easier already , my plan is to look at the week ahead and make the cakes fill with butter cream and jam or gananche and butter cream or ganache the outside and freeze, get it out the night before so its literally ready to just decortate, does that sound like a plan that will work ? xx

It is definitely a workable plan! One thing you might like to consider is the ganache filling. The ganache we use for crumb coat does go very hard when it’s frozen so it may be better to use a softer ganache for filling. For dark ganache a 1: 1 ratio works well. Make the night before, and cover the surface with cling film and leave it to set at room temp. Next day you’ll have a soft spreadable ganache which will freeze but defrost to a soft consistency. For milk and white ganche make a 2:1 ratio for filling. This is entirely up to you, try it out as an experiment and see whether you like it!! xx

Oh ok thank you I’ll give it a go!

so once out the freezer and decorated how long will the cake be ok for as im trying to work out how many cakes I can fit in a week .
so if I decorated tuesday a buttercream cake would it be ok to deliver sat/ sun ? an then have 2/3 days once cut ?

sorry lots of questions here x

Most cakes have a shelf life of five days so when you’re freezing take that into consideration because the day you defrost is the first day of the shelf life. Madeira cake has a much better shelf life, from baking to eating approx two weeks. Chocolate mud cake approxmately seven days. This all obviously depends on handling and storage environment for the cakes. Scroll down the page of the following thread and see David’s answer:

Lengthening the shelf life of cakes

Throughout Q & A there are many other threads which discuss advance baking and decorating. Please have a look in the following link and click on related topics.
http://www.cakeflix.com/questions?s=how+long+in+advance

Hope these help. xx

I use craigmiller Madeira mix so this has a 2 week life ?
had a look through the links cant see an answer to the butter cream life once inside the cake and iced so at room temperture
would it be ok to do the cake monday and deliver sat ? xx

I’ve never used Craig Millar cake mixes so can’t say what the shelf life would be. I’m referring to scratch maderia recipes. I think doing the cake on Monday and delivering on Saturday is cutting it to the bone. The only way you can be sure that it will be of good quality is to make one and leave it out at room temperature to see the effects … especially if it’s a mix. Personally I would not do it, it doesn’t give the customer a lot of eating time.
Butter cream is quite shelf stable and would be ok at room temperature in a cool enviroment. Please see the following reference to Craig Millar maderia mix, scroll down the page to see the comment:

Vanilla Cake Shelf Life

The suppliers of Craig Millar products would be the best people to ask about the shelf life of their cake mixes.