Can Fondant Cakes be Frozen?

Fondant is a beautiful sugar paste that can be used to cover cakes or make edible decorations.  A very common question that I frequently get asked is, “Can Fondant Cakes be Frozen?” If you are a cake maker, I bet this question has entered your mind at one point or another.  Or, maybe you had a custom fondant cake made for you, and you want to save the leftovers.  

In this post, I am going to discuss in depth all you need to know about whether fondant can be frozen or not.  You’ll also learn practical tips when storing fondant.

Before we get deep into whether fondant can be frozen or not, let’s first talk about how it’s made.

How Fondant is Made

There are two types of fondant generally used in the baking industry, rolled fondant and pourable fondant. The differences are:

• Rolled Fondant – Also known as sugar paste, is made from a recipe of finely ground sugar that is combined and rolled out to a dough-like consistency. Fondant has many uses, including covering cakes and make edible decorations. Rolled fondant is often made using marshmallow that has been melted and combined with powdered sugar. It can also be made using a combination of powdered sugar and gelatin.
• Pourable Fondant – This type of fondant is made with powdered sugar, glucose, and water. White corn syrup is often used instead of glucose. The sugar, water, and glucose are heated on the stove and boiled until it reaches the soft-ball stage. It is then agitated until it starts to get stiff and becomes white. Pourable fondant is most often used to cover petit fours.

Fondant vs. Moisture

Have you ever heard the old saying, “you won’t melt, because you’re not made of sugar?” I still giggle because my mother used to tell me that when I was young, and I didn’t want to go outside in the rain.  

When it comes to fondant, however, it IS made of sugar. As you may know, sugar melts when it comes in contact with moisture. So, you can imagine that fondant (made from sugar) doesn’t do well with water that might come in contact with it.

So, the question remains, can fondant cakes be frozen? The answer is absolutely!!!

Fondant Cakes CAN be Frozen

No way! I have frozen fondant cakes countless times. But, let’s talk about why you are freezing the cake.

Freezing a fondant cake to eat it another day:  You can easily freeze a fondant cake by placing it in the freezer uncovered until it’s fully frozen. Once the fondant cake is completely frozen, wrap it multiple times with alternating layers of plastic wrap and aluminum foil.  

Believe it or not, I have had two brides save the top tier from their wedding cake a WHOLE YEAR LATER, and they said it tasted amazing. I was petrified that the cake would taste horrible after storing it that long. However, I’m happy to say that my tip for freezing fondant cake works great.

To defrost the cake, remove the plastic wrap and foil and place the cake in the refrigerator. Allow it to slowly defrost and take it out 30 minutes before you want to eat the cake.

Freezing a Fondant Cake for Decorating

This subject here is specific to my cake-making friends out there. Yes, you can freeze a fondant cake for the purpose of firming up the cake quickly, but you don’t want to leave it in the freezer for too long.  

Why put the cake in the freezer in the first place?

Cake decorators are innovators. They create edible works of art and we sometimes have to bend the rules to accomplish our goals.

I recently saw a post on social media where a beginner cake baker made a very well decorated buttercream cake with fondant accents. The cake was a pretty two-tier cake. The decorator made a fatal mistake of decorating the cake on top of a piece of parchment paper and a wire rack.  She didn’t want her cake to be destroyed but she had no clue how she was going to transfer this two-tier cake from the parchment paper to a cake base.

First of all, if you are a beginner cake decorator please take my advice: NEVER EVER…EEEEEVERRRR, decorate your cake just solely on a piece of parchment paper. You are asking for a disaster!  

In her instance, the only way she could salvage her cake would be to freeze that cake completely. Once the cake is frozen, she could possibly handle the cake better and quickly move it from the parchment paper to the cake base.  

You must always start with a strong cake base when stacking cakes. Whether it is a two-tier or multi-tiered cake, it is important to make sure the cake base can not only withstand the weight of the cake, but it has to be rigid enough to prevent any flexing or bending.

I highly recommend using a cake drum or multiple corrugated cake circles glued together to get a solid base. Sometimes, I even use a wooden circle cut to the size I need.

So, as you can see from the above-referenced scenario, the cake had to be frozen. Otherwise, the cake would fall and be a crumbled mess.

The frozen fondant would not be an issue if it’s handled the right way.  But how you ask?

How to Thaw a Frozen Fondant Cake

If you must freeze a fondant cake because you need to firm up the decoration or for some other reason it’s totally ok as long as you defrost it the cake correctly.

• Transfer the frozen cake from the freezer to the refrigerator.
• Do not touch the exterior of the fondant as this may cause fingerprints or smudging of colors.
• Allow the fondant cake to completely thaw in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight as necessary.

You can add additional decorations to the fondant cake only after it has completely thawed. The thawed cake should then be taken out of the refrigerator. Make sure you leave it covered and in a box until it comes back to room temperature. Once the cake is back at room temperature, you can finish the decorations.

I hope this helped answer your question, can fondant cakes be frozen. If this was helpful to you, please subscribe to my periodic newsletter and updates.  

P.S. I would love you to join other cake decorators just like you in my Cake Maker Challenge group on Facebook.  

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