Can You Freeze Pineapple Upside Down Cake?
Enjoying cake is always a treat, but a beautiful cake makes any occasion feel extra-special. A pineapple upside down cake has so much going for it, it’s hard not to love.
Covered with sweet, tropical fruit, this novelty cake is surprisingly easy to make, so while you’re at it, you might decide to make two.
If you have an extra cake, left-over cake, or, if you’re baking a cake in advance of a special event, you make be wondering, can you freeze pineapple upside down cake? Yes, you can freeze pineapple upside down cake for up to 3 months as long as it’s cooled to room temperature before freezing and is properly wrapped to avoid freezer burn.
In this article, we’ll outline the steps to carefully freezing your pineapple upside down cake so that it stays fresh and delicious for up to 3 months.
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
A pineapple upside down cake is one of the prettiest cakes in existence, especially when it flips out of the cake pan perfectly.
This tropical dessert is essentially a cake that is baked with pineapple rings on the bottom of the dish so that they caramelize perfectly during the baking process. Most people will further decorate their cake by adding maraschino cherries to the center of each pineapple ring.
Once it’s cooked and cooled, the cake is then flipped out of its dish so that the pineapple is displayed on the top.
Pineapple Upside Down Cake Ingredients – Freezer Safe
Whenever you’re thinking about freezing anything, you have to consider the individual ingredients inside the item to be frozen. A basic cake freezes perfectly well, so it’s the extra special ingredients we need to look into, specifically the pineapple.
Luckily, pineapple freezes well, especially when sliced, and cherries will also withstand the freezing process, so pineapple upside down cake is a great candidate for freezing.
If you don’t care for the syrupy sweetness of maraschino cherries, you can always swap them for another ingredient that freezes well, such as pecans, slices of dates, or shreds of coconut.
If you want to further decorate your cake with icing or frosting, you’ll have to decide if the type of frosting you’ve used is appropriate for freezing.
In most cases, freezing a cake after it’s been frosted actually creates better insulation and keeps the cake moisture levels perfectly balanced.
How to Freeze Pineapple Upside Down Cake
The first step to freezing your pineapple upside down cake is the cooling process. You want as little moisture on the cake as possible before it goes in the freezer, so you want to make sure you don’t accidentally cause any condensation by rapidly cooling a warm cake.
When you put your cake into the freezer, any moisture will turn into tiny ice crystals. These crystals will break down the structure of your cake.
This will happen on a minuscule scale, so if there are only a few crystals formed, you won’t notice a difference. But if your cake creates moisture from condensation inside it’s wrapping, many ice crystals will form.
Not only will they break down the structure of your cake, but when you defrost it, they’ll melt and leave your cake a soggy mess.
To prevent this, let your cake cool to room temperature after baking and then store it in the fridge overnight. Being fridge cold before freezing will be an optimal transition.
Double Wrap Your Cake for Freshness
Next, you want to wrap your cake well to protect it from exposure to freezer air.
The best way to make sure that no air will come into contact with your cake is to double wrap it with 2 layers of plastic wrap.
- Place one layer of plastic wrap on a clean, flat surface and lay your cake carefully on top of it.
- Seal the plastic wrap around your cake, pressing down as much as possible without squishing your cake to remove any air pockets.
- Roll out the second layer of plastic wrap but position it in the opposite direction. Repeat the process.
Bonus Tip: You can swap the 2nd layer of plastic wrap for a layer of aluminum foil for even more added protection.
If you’re concerned about your cake, you can wrap it twice in plastic wrap and twice in aluminum foil. You won’t be the only person to do so, we promise.
Protect Your Cake Inside Your Freezer
For even more protection, once your cake is wrapped with plastic wrap and/or foil, you can place it inside a freezer-safe Tupperware container.
This will not only further protect your cake from air and moisture, but it adds physical protection as well so your cake won’t get crushed in the freezer before it’s thoroughly frozen.
This last step will depend on the size of your cake. If it doesn’t fit in any of the Tupperware containers you have, what you can do instead is place it on a baking sheet and rest it on top of everything else in your freezer until it’s frozen solid (at least 6 hours).
At this point it should be rock hard and more or less impervious to damage, so you can remove the baking sheet and position your frozen pineapple upside down cake in a place where it will be relatively undisturbed until you’re ready to eat it.
This may seem like a lot of effort and wrapping to go through, but it will protect your pineapple upside-down cake from freezer burn and mushiness, so we think it’s well worth it.
Can You Freeze Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes?
You can also freeze small or mini pineapple upside down cakes, and pineapple upside down cupcakes. You’ll want to take all the same steps as outline above which can be slightly more time-consuming in the case of cupcakes.
Double or triple wrapping your cake is just as important in small versions. We have heard of bakers cooling their cupcakes in the fridge and then flash freezing them before wrapping.
This is definitely an option, but you‘ll want to be very careful to make sure that the cupcakes are cold before freezing them and that you leave the freezer door tightly shut until you’re absolutely certain they’re frozen throughout.
After your cupcakes have been freezing for at least an hour, take them out one by one and wrap them with plastic wrap and then foil wrap, placing them back in the freezer as quickly as possible to prevent them from starting to thaw.
Once they’re all wrapped, you can transfer them to a freezer-safe Tupperware container for added security.
How Long Can You Freeze Pineapple Upside Down Cake?
Before placing your cake in the freezer, always remember to write the date on it so that you know how long it’s been frozen.
For the most reliable results, try to eat your cake within 2-3 weeks of freezing. At the maximum, leave it in your freezer for 3 months as the quality will diminish quickly at this point.
How to Defrost a Pineapple Upside Down Cake
To defrost your cake when you’re ready to eat it, simply take it out of the freezer and sit it on your counter at room temperature, but don’t unwrap it. Leave it tightly sealed until its completely thawed.
It will take about an hour to thaw. If you prefer, you can place it on a plate in your fridge and let it defrost in there overnight.
Once you take it out of your freezer, the temperature difference will cause condensation to form.
This is why you want to make sure your cake remains tightly sealed until is the temperature of the cake is balanced with the temperature of the air and no more moisture is collecting on the surface.
After an hour or more, you can unwrap your cake, slice, and serve.
How to Store Pineapple Upside Down Cake (Instead of Freezing)
If you think you’ll eat your cake within 3 days of baking it, you can store your leftovers in the fridge. Transfer it to a plate or serving dish that is an appropriate size and place some toothpicks across the surface.
Lay some plastic wrap lightly over the toothpicks so that it protects your cake from the fridge air, but doesn’t disturb or stick to your pineapple topping.
If you truly dislike cold pineapple upside down cake or you simply don’t have room in your fridge, you can store it, covered, on your countertop but only for 1-2 days maximum.
If your kitchen is overly hot or humid, this is not a great solution. Put it in the fridge and simply take it out an hour before eating it too bring it back to room temperature.
Conclusion: Can You Freeze Pineapple Upside Down Cake?
To wrap up, you can freeze pineapple upside down cake quite well, especially if you take some extra time to make sure it’s as close to perfectly sealed as humanly possible.
If you’ve taken the effort to make such a beautiful cake, you don’t want your effort wasted by accidentally turning it to mush in your freezer simply because you didn’t have the patience to double or even triple wrap it.
With the right technique, pineapple upside down cake freezes so well that you might want to double your batch when baking with the express purpose of freezing an entire cake to eat next month.
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