I'm going to show you how to save a huge amount of time and free up your schedule
and get neater frosting by freezing your cakes. I know what you're thinking and so
before getting into any of the technical details I want to address your concern:
that frozen cakes might taste bad. If you follow these steps you can confidently freeze cake layers
and entire cakes frosted and even decorated for two months! I'll show you how to defrost your
cakes properly too and when you slice into them you will never know they were frozen
because the taste and texture will be perfect the same as on the day of baking the cake.
Okay, let's dive into how to freeze cakes and I'll also show you the reasons why you want to freeze
them. Step 1: after you bake your cakes let them cool completely. If you want to level and divide
them and drizzle them with simple syrup do that now because it's much easier when the cake is at
room temperature than when it's frozen. Then wrap the cake layers up in cling film or saran wrap
it's important that they're sealed so there aren't any gaps where moisture from the freezer can get
through to the cake because that's what can dry cakes out and make them taste like the freezer.
You can wrap layers individually or stack them but make sure there's plastic wrap in between each
layer otherwise they'll stick together when they freeze. I only stack two layers at a time because
these layers are freshly baked and very delicate and adding the weight of another layer could cause
the bottom layer to crack or crumble. You can do this with any cake flavour and size and being able
to freeze cake layers means you can bake double or triple batches of cake, minimizing baking
time and then just pull the layers out of the freezer whenever you want to make another cake.
Put the layers in the freezer and move them to the fridge the night before you need them and they'll
thaw overnight, ready to use the next day. When cake layers are frozen they're firm and stable
and not crumbly which makes them easy to handle so I like to assemble cakes with layers that
are still frozen, straight out of the freezer. Because they're less crumbly they're a dream to
frost so you can even apply your crumb coat while the cake is still frozen. The frosting will glide
over the cakes without pulling off crumbs and it will be easy to smooth the frosting as it starts
to chill and set against the cold cake layers. I like to wait for the cake to thaw before applying
the final coat of frosting because then you'll be able to take your time to perfect the frosting,
so after applying the crumb coat ideally leave the cake at room temperature for 30 minutes or
in the fridge for an hour or two and then it won't be as cold and when you frost the cake it will be
stable, not wobbly so you'll find it much easier to get your frosting really smooth than if you
try frosting a room temperature cake, scraping as many times as you want with your cake comb
since the frosting won't chill and set nearly as quickly as when the cake layers are frozen.
Did you know that you can freeze entire cakes too? After you assemble and crumb coat a cake,
getting those stages out of the way, you can freeze the crumb coated cake. This way you can
do the preparation in advance and then when you're ready to frost and decorate the cake
you don't have to dedicate a whole day and start from scratch, you can skip straight to
the fun part of frosting and decorating! Even more useful, you can freeze a cake after frosting and
decorating it which is really useful if you need a cake for a certain date but your schedule is
really busy that week so you won't have time to make the cake. After decorating the cake,
put it into the freezer for one hour to chill and set the frosting and the decorations and then take
it out and wrap it in as many layers as you need to completely seal the cake so there's nowhere for
the air in the freezer to sneak through. It's the moisture in the air in the freezer that changes
the taste and texture of a cake so that's what you want to protect the cake from. Put the wrapped
cake in the freezer for up to two months until the night before you need it. That night before, move
the cake from the freezer to the fridge (still in its wrapping) and it will thaw overnight.
About four hours before serving the cake take it out of the fridge and unwrap it straight away
while the frosting is still cold and firm and that way the plastic wrap won't damage it. When the
cake comes to room temperature about four hours after coming out of the fridge you'll be able
to slice through it easily and the cake will be as moist and delicious as it was on the day you baked
it. If you're finding this tutorial useful check out my online course The Basics of Cake where i
cover every step of making a cake: mixing, baking, preparing cake layers, assembling, frosting,
decorating, storing, transporting and serving and I'll put a discount code in the link in the top
of the screen and in the description below this video. Thank you for watching and happy caking!