Making a cake for an event can be very stressful and depending on the design work needed can seem like a time crunch. This is why baking you cake layers ahead of time and freezing them is a good solution. There are some strategies that you need to employ when freezing cakes to make sure that the quality of the cake does not suffer. You also should not make the cakes too far in advance either because cake cannot freeze indefinitely.

The tradition of keeping the top of a wedding cake for a year is the only time you should allow a cake to be in the freezer that long, and that cake will be extremely dry when finally consumed. Here are some tips to freezing cake:

• Always wrap your cakes well in plastic wrap and don’t be stingy, several plastic layers are better than one. The trick is to wrap your cakes so that there is no air left between the cake and plastic wrap.
• Make sure your cakes are completely cooled before placing them in the freezer so that condensation doesn’t form and freeze into quality zapping ice crystals. To ensure a cooled cake, place your layers in the fridge after letting them sit at room temperature for at least three hours before wrapping them.
• If you are freezing your cakes on cardboard cake boards, cover the boards with plastic before placing the cakes on them so that the paper flavor does not transfer.
• Keep your cakes wrapped in plastic until completely thawed so that any stray ice crystals on the outside of the wrapping don’t end up on your cakes.

• Make sure your icing does not crust if you are freezing an iced cake. The icing will rack as the cake expands and contracts due to temperature variations.
• Do not freeze your cake and then cover it with fondant. The condensation that forms as the cake thaws will wreck the fondant.
• Use your frozen cakes within one to two weeks because the flavor and texture will be best. You can extend that freezing time to up to one month but after that the cake will likely be dry and flavorless.
• Do not freeze fat-free cakes because it is the high fat content of regular recipe cakes that makes them good candidates for freezing.
• If you do not have plastic wrap, use aluminum foil instead taking care not to tear the fragile foil. Foil is a good barrier to moisture and bacteria.
• Do not freeze cakes in an appliance that has any odors such as seafood because the cake can pick up this smell easily.
• Thaw your cakes at room temperature for at least one hour before frosting them.
• The best way to freeze a frosted cake is in an airtight plastic container after covering the cake loosely several times with plastic wrap.