HOW TO: Freeze Cake Layers for Later

Baking is an enormous task if you try to do it in one day, right before an event! Cake layers stay fresh even if you freeze them. I used this method for baking my vanilla Multilayer Rainbow Cake for my (champagne) birthday!

Why Freeze your Cake Layers?

Bake in Advance: This is the ultimate time saver and allows you to bake cakes in advance!  Freezing your cakes allows you to bake WEEKS in advance (some sources say up to 3 months). Professionals do this all the time. I first learned these tips from Smitten Kitchen. 

Slice cake layers more easily: Frozen cake is much easier to slice through and hold its shape than cake at room temperature. 

Preparing Unfrosted Cake for the Freezer

1. Allow your cakes to completely cool before putting them in the freezer. 

2. Saran wrap each layer individually (see this youtube video for tips)

2. Place in air-tight containers and store in freezer.

Defrosting the Unfrosted Cake from the Freezer

THE BEST METHOD FOR THAWING CAKES I FOUND:

Scroll down below to see the difference between trying to frost a cake after thawing at room temperature for 2.5 hours versus thawing cake for 8 hours at room temperature. 

1. Allow cake to thaw in fridge overnight: Take out your frozen cake layers from the freezer, thaw in the fridge overnight (covered in airtight containers) then take out in room temperature.

• Thawing in the fridge first rather than to room temperature will allow the cake to defrost gradually and not condense too much (and be soggy!).
• Make sure you keep the cake in air tight containers (wrapped) so that the taste of the cake isn't compromised/influenced by other foods in your fridge. 

2. Leave out at room temperature to thaw for 2-3 hours. Then you can proceed to ice!

Icing a Cake that Thawed for 2.5 hrs vs 8 Hrs:

Trying to ice a cake that went from freezer --> fridge overnight --> thaw for 2-3 hours at room temperature

• Cake texture: Cake texture was stiffer, a bit soggy (again did not have as much time to "dry out") BUT was MUCH easier to ice than the one that had been out for 8 hours (see purple layer cake below). I will probably use this amount of time to thaw cakes before icing. 

Layer of rainbow cake after thawing in the fridge overnight, than thawed for 2.5 hours before icing:

Trying to ice a cake that went from freezer --> fridge overnight --> thaw for 8 hours at room temperature:

• Cake Texture: Softer, more edible and a little bit less soggy than the one that had been out for only 2-3 hours (however icing proved more difficult as the cake was more crumbly compared to the cake that had been thawing for less time):

Layer of rainbow cake after thawing in the fridge overnight, than thawed for 8 hours before icing: