Make-Ahead with Modeling Chocolate

by Judy
(Fort Worth, TX USA)

How much ahead of serving time can I decorate the cake with modeling chocolate (you recommend one day - is this the maximum?).

And when you take the "prepared" cake from the freezer (you say you fill and crumb coat ahead), do you apply the modeling chocolate to the frozen cake, or let thaw first?

After covering, is this when you put the cake in the air conditioned room - and is that OK for a whole day or more? (About what temp?)This is our first time to use the medium -- :) THANKS!!

Hi Judy, For your first question the modeling chocolate can stay out for days but the cake itself cannot.

A lot depends on the filling in the cake. Do you plan on using buttercream to fill and frost the cake (or some other filling that will spoil easily, such as a mousse or custard?)

Modeling chocolate is very stable, sort of like a a tootsie roll.

• Decorate the cake up to 24 hours in advance. You could probably get away with a longer period of time, in fact I once did do a fondant cake that had to stay out for two days and it was totally fine. The filling was buttercream. But I don't like to do that if I can help it.



• After filling and crumb coating the frozen cakes, put them back into the fridge and wait until the following day to final frost and decorate. This way the cake is not frozen when you do the decorations or the enrobing.



• The temperature of the air conditioned room is about 68 degrees and yes after you put the chocolate onto the cake you would keep it in the air conditioning.

I do hope that helps. is this for a wedding? Feel free to show off your finished cake on the wedding cake sharing page. Would love to see your work and hear about how it went using the modeling chocolate.