can i fridge/freeze mini-cakes or the batter a few days before bday???

[shilo]

hi all,

ok, so i'm getting brave this year and actually attempting to make sam's cake. last year, i just decorated a store bought cake myself and made cookies from scratch. i go a little crazy decorating things, so i was still up at 3am the night before decorating and piping away. i want to avoid that this year if at all possible.

cookies i know what to do with, but i'm clueless when it comes to cakes. can you make the cakes (i'm doing little mini choo choo engines and cars) ahead of time and fridge/freeze them? is it better to pre make and fridge/freeze the batter instead?? it's a pretty simple batter - eggs, butter, flour, sugar, sour cream, vanilla, baking powder and soda and salt.

i did the 'test run' with the cakes tonight and they turned out pretty good, but i'm thinking no way will this batch still be useable for next weekend. but i'd like to make some starting thrusday or friday for his sunday lunchtime party.

TIA!!!
lori
Sam 5/19/05 How lucky I am that you chose me.

[cmo]

Yes! You can freeze baked cakes and they will come out great. This is one of those baker's secrets. You can freeze cakes weeks (even months) in advance. Brush off excess crumbs and wrap a fully-cooled cake tightly in heavy foil. Thaw at least a few hours before you need to frost it, brushing off crumbs once again before doing so. (Optional: I put a piece of wax paper down on a small cookie sheet, then unwrap the still-frozen cake and place it upside-down on the cookie sheet to thaw. Then, when it's time to frost, I can flip the cake over onto the serving plate, peel off the wax paper, and frost from there. With your shaped cakes, you could do this, but probably not put them on the sheet upside down.) I think that it is sometimes easier to get a good-looking frosted cake this way!

Hope the party goes great!

[shilo]

perfect, thanks so much!!!
lori
Sam 5/19/05 How lucky I am that you chose me.

[SnuggleBuggles]

When would I do this in the process? Is this right:
-I make the cake, put it in the fridge till day I am ready to decorate it
-do a quick crumb coat
-put it back in the fridge for X time (how long?)
-decorate the rest of the way?

I have a chocolate cake recipe that tastes delicious but if I don't fridge it frosting is a nightmare.

Thanks and sorry for the hijack!!

Beth

[cmo]

>When would I do this in the process? Is this right:
>-I make the cake, put it in the fridge till day I am ready to
>decorate it

You can refrigerate a day or two, but if you will be serving it any time beyond that, it's probably better to wrap & freeze or the cake make become stale.

>-do a quick crumb coat

You may be able to skip this step if you have frozen the cake, because once you take it out of the freezer and unwrap it, you can brush off all/most of the loose (still frozen) crumbs. Then, thaw as much as you can (still cold is OK, just not rock hard) before frosting. But, some cakes are just crumby, so you may need a crumb coat (a very thin layer of frosting applied to keep all the crumbs contained before applying the regular layer of frosting).

>-put it back in the fridge for X time (how long?)

It's been a long time since I've done this, so I can't quite remember all the details. Refrigerating after the crumb coat is not necessarily needed, but, depending on the types of cake and frosting, it may work better this way. You can put it in the refrigerator for a minimum of probably 20 minutes or so, but you could leave it for hours if you wanted. If you need the chill and are in a hurry, I'd do 10-20 minutes in the freezer.

>-decorate the rest of the way?
>
Any time after the crumb coat & optional chill.

>I have a chocolate cake recipe that tastes delicious but if I
>don't fridge it frosting is a nightmare.

Sound delicious! For a cake like that (sounds very moist), after frosting and decorating, refrigerating it until serving time might make it easier to slice, plate, & serve.

HTH! This makes me wanna go bake somethin'...