How Far Ahead Can You Bake A Cake

This yr I'm trying to web log my answers to the questions you guys ask the virtually! One popular question is how far in advance yous tin can make cake layers. To answer this, we need to talk nearly freezing cake layers!

Some people are hesitant to freeze their cake layers, fearful that the freezer will dry out them out.

I promise freezing cake layers doesn't change the texture or taste at all, if they're properly wrapped!

photos of my funfetti wedding cake layers, made in advance by freezing cake layers

I'g hoping this mail service will also answer other common questions, like:

When exercise I freeze a cake?
How do I freeze cake layers?
Should I level my layers earlier I freeze my cake layers?
Do I thaw the layers before I make the cake?
How far ahead of time can I make block layers?
How should I shop my block layers?
Why should I freeze my block layers?

Making a block from scratch takes hours of piece of work, from baking all the layers, to preparing the frosting and decorations. If yous try to do it all in one day, it takes forever, and seems like and then much more of a chore.

I used to work full fourth dimension in corporate finance, and oftentimes baked after work or on the weekends.

I loved to bake my layers i dark, prep my frosting and cake fillings some other, and and so savor the decorating process over the weekend.

While baking is therapeutic in it's own style, my favorite function of making cakes is decorating them! It brings me and so much joy, and is truly my creative outlet.

I observe I'thousand able to enjoy it most when I'm not worrying nigh how much longer my layers demand to bake, or cleaning upward the clouds of powdered carbohydrate that seem to coat my kitchen whenever I make frosting.

How to Freeze Block Layers in Advance

I almost always brand my cake components in advance! When making my cake layers alee of time, I accept my pans out of the oven, then run an beginning spatula effectually the edge of the pan to separate the layers from the pan.

After this, I identify the warm pans directly into my freezer.

Sounds crazy, right?? Hot pans right into the freezer?? Information technology dramatically accelerates the cooling procedure, and I dear beingness able to speed up the process a bit.

Later about 30 minutes, once the pans are cool to the affect, I remove my cake layers from my pans by gently tapping the pans upside-downwards on my counter, and advisedly removing the layers with my hands.

To be completely honest, if I am only freezing my cake layers overnight, I don't wrap them.

I but identify them back into the freezer, on cardboard cake rounds to ensure they freeze flat. I've found it makes no difference in gustatory modality, and makes the whole process simpler.

Making a Cake a Few Days in Advance

However, if I'm making my layers more a day in advance, I either wrap each layer in Saran Wrap, or identify them into a large tupperware container (if the layers are small plenty).

I adopt the Tupperware road since information technology's less wasteful, just when freezing block layers for longer periods of time (more a few days), I think Saran Wrap works all-time.

Making Block Layers Further in Accelerate

If you programme to make your cake layers more than a few days in advance, I highly recommend doubling up to protect your cake layers from freezer burn.

At that place are a few different means y'all tin can exercise this:

Wrap cake layers in two layers of Saran Wrap
First wrap cake layers in Saran Wrap, then wrap in second layer of foil
Wrap in Saran Wrap so place in air tight tupperware container
Wrap in Saran Wrap, and then place into large ziplock freezer bag

My vanilla layer block recipe can exist made three weeks in accelerate, if wrapped properly. I've only made layers three weeks in advance, and I haven't tested the upper limits.

If any of you have frozen my cake layer recipe for longer, please let me know the elapsing, and how they tasted.

I've talked to other bakers, and some like to immediately pop their layer out of their pans, wrap them in plastic wrap while they're still hot, and then identify them in the freezer.

Both methods assistance go on moisture in the layers! If you recollect about steam ascension from a baked good hot out of the oven, information technology'south moisture evaporating correct out any you just broiled!

By reducing the steam that leaves your cake layers, you lot're helping them stay moist and delicious.

How to Thaw and Employ Frozen Cake Layers

Then now that y'all've frozen your cake layers, what do you do when it comes fourth dimension to make the cake?!

I like to remove my layer from the freezer about xxx minutes before I want to begin frosting a cake.

I unwrap each layer and lay them out on my counter to thaw. Just afterward doing this (and while they're still completely frozen), I like to trim the caramelization from the sides of my layers with a serrated knife.

I then let the layer thaw for 30 minutes (this can vary depending on the size of your cake layers). At this point they're nevertheless chilled, but also slightly firm. This is when I level my cake layers using a serrated knife.

If you try to level the cake earlier it has thawed, it volition be extremely difficult to cut through, making it more than likely that the layers break.

image of freezing cake layers, thawed and stacked after being made a week in advance

The Benefits of Frosting Chilled Block Layers

Once the layers are trimmed, leveled, and still slightly chilled, I brainstorm to brand the cake. I know this sounds foreign, but chilled cake layers are so much easier to stack and frost!

Spooky the cake layers reduces the amount of crumbing, and helps the buttercream firm up in one case it's added to the cake. This minimizes whatever shifting of your cake layers as you lot add a crumb coat.

Chilled cake layers are also much easier to cleave, if you're working on a sculpted cake.

If my cake layers are at room temperature, and I try to carve them, I observe that my layers kind of crumble, and are very difficult to shape.

When my layers are chilled, I can cut and shape them into whatever shape I'm after.

carving cake layers that were frozen and made in advance

Key Takeaways

This concluded upwards being much longer than I intended, so here'south a picayune recap of the main takeaways of making cake layers in advance:

Block layers can be made several weeks in advance if properly wrapped every bit described higher up (doubled wrapped!)
Layers should be thawed for about xxx minutes earlier leveling and building the cake
Making a cake with chilled cake layers (thawed out of the freezer for 30 minutes) reduces crumbling
Chilled cake layers are easier to stack and cleave

Please let me know if y'all use any dissimilar methods for freezing cake layers, I'd love to hear almost them!!