This post was written as part of an introductory assignment for my apprenticeship.
Most people choose the easy,
straightforward, ‘how-bad-can-it-be’ solution to storing a cake – getting a
round tin or plastic tub with a lid and putting it in that, but what really is
the best way to keep your birthday or Christmas cake fresher for longer?
As it turns out, with the
hundreds of different types of cakes there are out there, there is also
hundreds of different ways to store the cake, depending on how the cake is (is
it cut? Or is it iced?). Some basic things to know is that frozen cakes can keep
longer than a week, and that oil-based cakes tend to keep a few days longer
than butter based cakes.
For uncut and non-iced cakes,
it’s best to wrap them tightly in plastic wrap. This prevents air from
absorbing into the cake whilst it’s just sitting on the counter. However, to
prevent unneeded waste you can also use plastic bags if they have a zip lock
style opening.
If your cake is iced, but isn’t
cut, then the icing acts as its own plastic wrap. The best way to ensure this
cake stays fresh is to keep it underneath an upturned bowl or cake keeper just
to ensure dust or pet hair doesn’t land on your cake. Plastic wrap would just
squash the icing and would be unnecessary.
Cut cakes (iced or non-iced) tend
to go stale a lot quicker because the moisture can leave the cake. A tip to
prevent iced cakes from going stale is to ice the cut edges, but if this isn’t
possible then wrapping the exposed edges and making sure they’re stuck would be
the best option. Cut cake only tends to keep for three to four days at a time.
Cakes are usually fine at room
temperature for a few days at a time, however moisture and sugar and a high
temperature leads to a bacteria party, so to prevent this, or if you’re baking
a cake a few days ahead of time say for a birthday party, then you can
refrigerate your cake. To best do this, wrap your uncut, non-iced cakes in
plastic wrap to stop it from drying out and so it doesn’t absorb any weird
fridge smells, and for any iced cakes, refrigerate it for up to half an hour
uncovered (depending on the icing) to harden the icing and then wrap it in
plastic wrap.
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