Did you know that you can actually freeze your cake layers in advance? When I first started out decorating cakes I never even considered freezing cake layers. I wanted whoever was eating the cake to enjoy it as much as possible. I was afraid of negative feedback from friends or customers. That being said, I would stay up all night the night before a cake order was due baking all the cake layers. Then, I would wake up early to make the buttercream and decorate until the whole thing was perfect!
One day I saw on Pinterest how to freeze your cakes and I decided to try it. I obviously tried it on a cake that I was making for my own household. To my surprise it tasted AMAZING! The same as if I were to not freeze it. What made it great was that I could bake a couple days in advance and not have to stay up until 2 a.m. baking! I also learned in this trial of cake freezing that it is WAY easier to stack and fill cake layers that are frozen. There aren’t any crumbs while you are icing the cake! I know you can crumb coat a cake, but if you can make the job easier and the results are the same, why not? This will make your life so much easier!
Here is a step by step on how I prepare and freeze my cakes!
Step 1: Make sure your cake is completely cooled and your cake layers are leveled. If you would like to learn how to level your cake layers, check out this full tutorial on decorating a cake from start to finish.
Step 2: Wrap your cake layers (or cupcakes!) in plastic wrap at least twice.
Step 3: Wrap your cake layers in tin foil. This will help prevent freezer burn.
Step 4: Put all your cake layers and/or cupcakes in the freezer on a flat surface. I try not to stack them up too high on each other until they are frozen. I don’t want my cake layers to flatten and compress under the weight.
How long would your cake layers be good in here for? I have read that they will last for several months in the freezer (3,4,5…). My personal preference, a week or two. If I am making the cake for a paying customer, I will bake and freeze the cake within 7 days of the order date.
Let me know in the comments your experience with freezing cake layers. How long have you let your cakes freeze before?
When you freeze your cakes, how do you defrost? You haven’t mentioned that bit. Do you take them out, ice and decorate and allow them to defrost? How long do they take to defrost?
Thaniks in advance
I actually decorate them frozen. If you do this you don’t even need to crumb coat the cake! I’ve done this the morning of the party and left the cake at room temperature and it was unthawed that afternoon. Or I usually like to decorate the day before, then leave the cake in the fridge overnight and it will most definitely be unthawed for the occasion.
I will add this information to my post for future readers 🙂