Tutti Frutti Cake + How to Freeze a Decorated Buttercream Cake

This Tutti Frutti Cake is perfect for a cheery, summer birthday party!  From the watermelon and pineapple tiers to the fondant strawberries and glittery board - it's the perfect cake for any Tutti Frutti Party!

A few weeks before a planned trip to Mexico, I realized I'd made a huge mistake and taken an order for this Tutti Frutti Cake for the weekend we were going to be gone.  I was horrified, to say the least.

Thank goodness I discovered my error as early as I did, and I had a very understanding client.  She's such an amazing client that she didn't let my scheduling error deter her from wanting me to do the cake. 🙂

So after a little research and determining what I hoped would be the best way to handle the cake, we pressed forward with the order.  Here's how it all went...

Freezing Decorated Cakes

I've written a post before about freezing a fondant-decorated cake (read it here), but this one would be different because it was buttercream.

Her party wasn't until Saturday - my flight out was on the Wednesday before (at the crack of dawn).  I knew I had to finish the cake no later than Tuesday afternoon. But I wanted to bake it as late as possible. So I ended up baking the cake late Monday and chilling the layers overnight. Then Tuesday morning I decorated the cake and boxed it up and froze it (without any plastic wrap).

While it froze, I made all of the fondant decorations (the pineapple topper, the strawberries, the leaves, etc.).   Then just before we left for the airport (it's 2+ hours from here and our flight was pre-dawn so we spent the night before in New Orleans in a hotel near the airport), I got the frozen (solid) cake, out of the freezer.

I quickly put the decorations on, snapped a few pics, took the decorations off, and wrapped it up.  The decorations were saved in Ziploc bags and set aside separately.

I ended up wrapping 3 layers of heavy duty plastic wrap all around and over the frozen cake. Then I put it back in the box, taped it shut, and put the whole thing back in the freezer.

On Wednesday evening, she picked up the cake from my kids and took it straight home and back to the freezer.

I'm not 100% sure how she handled it, but I suggested leaving it frozen until Friday afternoon and then moving it to the frig without unpacking at all. Then on Saturday, unwrap it from the plastic wrap and let it come to room temp at least an hour or two before the party.

Then adding the decorations back.  I was completely off the grid while in Mexico, but I was thrilled to see the notification when I got back in the States where she'd posted the cake on Facebook:

Her party was SO adorable and the cake held up incredibly well!  YAY!!  What a relief 🙂

Tutti Frutti Cake

Now - here are a few details about the cake.

• The top tier was white almond sour cream cake and the bottom tier was chocolate chip cake. It was filled and frosted with vanilla buttercream.
• I used a tiny bit of electric pink on the bottom "watermelon" tier.  Then lemon yellow for the top "pineapple" tier.
• The black, green and red decorations were made with Satin Ice fondant. For the white band and the "2", I used homemade marshmallow fondant.

• For the pineapple topper, I added tylose to the fondant so it would dry hard and stand up. Green candy melts were used to "glue" the topper to a popsicle stick.
• The "2" was cut with the Funky Alphabet Cutters.
• For the diamond pattern on top, I used a bench scraper to make it look like a pineapple. It was a little rough but I couldn't find my diamond pattern texture sheet and I'm not sure I've ever used it on buttercream anyway. So pressing the edge of my bench scraper into the cake was just a shot in the dark that turned out pretty cute, I think.
• The board was covered in green glitter paper and used a fuschia ribbon on the edge. You can see my tutorial for how I cover boards here.

And that's all I've got for you, I think!  Do you have any questions? Leave me a comment! Also, check out my other summery cakes & cupcakes below 🙂

More Summery Cakes & Cupcakes...

How to Make Watermelon Cupcakes

How to Make Watermelon Cupcake Toppers

Lemon Kissed Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream

Pinwheels & Pink Lemonade Birthday Cake