Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi,

I am very new to cake decorating and making my first proper cake for my nephews birthday on the 21st of October and have decided on an angry birds cake. I have already made Pauls moist chocolate cake and have it in the freezer ready to go but my question is with regards to decorating etc

I was thinking about filling and applying ganache this Saturday (13th) and re-freezing then on Tuesday putting the sugar paste on the cake.

Would this cake be ok for the Sunday? If not I can apply the sugarpaste and decorations on Saturday (20th) I was just trying to be organised!

Thanks for your help

Hi pinlshelleyg

Paul’s moist chocolate cake has a shelf life of approximately five days although I know it does last longer. Since it is not for your own personal consumption I would tend to keep to Paul’s recommendation. If you type in the search box ‘shelf life’ then scroll down to the last two questions, answers there will give you some idea about extending cake shelf life for future cakes and, also an answer from Paul about his recipe. Sorry can’t be of more help.

Hi madeitwithlove,

Thanks for your reply. So would it be ok if I defrosted it Friday night to ganache on Sat and re-freeze it until Next Sat when I could then decorate it for the birthday on Sunday?

Thanks

Hi pinkshelleyg

I usually take out of the freezer on the day I’m ganaching. Presumably you want to tort and fill? Cake doesn’t take long to defrost, for torting, only about half an hour depending on size. I think completely defrosting will make the cake too moist to handle. You’re better off doing it while it is still slightly frozen, it’ll be easier to tort and the ganache will set quicker, then you can refreeze. Keep ganached cakes in their boxes because, sometimes the ganache cracks and leaves crevices,which can be hard to smooth out with a hot palette knife (benefit of my own experience!). I hope this helps, I know you’re trying to save time. I really feel it would be better to do it all on Saturday, you’ll save time in the long run. Before decorating let the cake defrost in the box at room temp.