How Many Days Before a Cake Order Can I Start Baking?
Time Management is very important for your cake business. Having your own business does not mean you should work for 24 hours straight, having sleepless nights or try and manage a cake disaster.
So the secret to dealing with all this is the No.1 secret for all cake decorators and it is so simple. This is known as the 4 Day Cake Rule
What is the 4 Day Cake Rule?
When you have a large cake order such as, tiered cakes, wedding cakes or a big birthday or novelty cake or fondant decorated cakes, then the 4 Day Cake Rule Applies.
You should try not to bake big cake order the day before. Infact it is a recipe for disaster. First you will have to measure the ingredients, make the mixture, bake in the oven, leave to cook, make the buttercream, crumb coat, cook off in the fridge, cover with fondant, make decorations and then decorate the cake. I will like to see you try all this in just 24 hours.
Its not possible, plus you need time to fix any errors that may come about.
Some may say that the cake will not be fresh, but most cakes are still fresh and taste more amazing 3-5 days after baking. A good chocolate cake recipe can last up to 10 days and will still taste scrumptious.
If you are worried about hard crumb, you could just moisten the cake with Sugar Syrup especially if it is a vanilla cake to moisten the crumb and keep the cake softer. The Sugar Syrup can also be flavored with essences to add more flavor to the taste.
The main reason for 4 Day Cake rule, is that you are not doing any decorating on the delivery day and you are able to fix any cake decorating disasters that may crop up. This will enable you to take care of the ‘what if’s’ or ‘just in case’ like for example if the cake burns you can do it again.
By breaking all the steps down in the 4 days, you wont feel all flustered about all the cake orders you will be getting.
So here is a timetable to follow where you have a big cake order
The 4 Day Cake Rule
Day 1
Bake Cakes
Cover cake board in fondant
Moisten the cakes with sugar syrup
Start on your fondant decorations such as flowers or figurines, etc
Day 2
Start to layer the cakes
Cover each cake in fondant and leave to ‘set’ overnight.
Finish up fondant decorations
Day 3
Stack the cakes.
Decorate the cakes
Take Photos
Day 4
Cake is ready for pickup or delivery.
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Cake Regards,
RotimiCakeLady