Can You Refreeze Cake? – The Ultimate Guide
Everybody loves cake, or they should at least! Cake is used for celebration and it also makes a great treat. Cake also stretches really far.
You usually only need a small slice to be satisfied and it always seems like there is far more cake than could ever be eaten before it starts drying out.
It’s a long-known fact that you can freeze cake to preserve it. In fact, it’s traditional to freeze the top tier of wedding cake for the happy couple to enjoy on their anniversary. That factor alone tells us just how great of an option the freezer can be for preserving foods.
But what about when you freeze it and then still don’t use it all?
Can you refreeze cake? The good news is you can refreeze your cake as long as you follow all of the proper processes. The trick lies in properly handling your cake through all of the steps from initial baking to refreezing.
In this guide, we will walk you through all of the steps regarding how to refreeze cake. There are many foods you can refreeze if you follow the steps accordingly. Pay close attention to detail to ensure your cake will refreeze appropriately.
Keep reading to learn everything you should know about how to refreeze cake and more.
The Ultimate Guide to Refreezing Cake
Cake is the ultimate dessert. You can do so many different things with cakes. The options are nearly limitless.
You can use cakes for various events. You can enjoy a multitude of flavors of cakes. You can shape cakes how you want them. You can fill cakes with fruits, nuts, and sauces.
Cakes literally are one of the most versatile foods out there. They are typically used as a dessert or a snack option but you can do whatever you want with your cake.
Here are some of the traditional uses for cakes:
- Birthday cake
- Wedding cake
- Anniversary cake
- Celebrations
- Just because
- Parties
These are just a few reasons to break out a delicious cake but there are so many options for a cake. Truth be told, you really don’t even need a reason. Just have your cake, and eat it too!
Cake Explained
Most of us know a little something about cake. Whether you are a professional cake-maker or you make your cakes from a box mix, we can all agree that cake is delightful.
The various flavors, designs, and other factors of cake just make it a valuable item to have in your arsenal. The best thing about cake is it nearly lasts forever. Okay, so maybe not forever but you can freeze it and then you can freeze it again if you need to.
So how is cake made and turned into this delicious delicacy? Cake is made mostly with sugar and flour with a few other ingredients mixed in. Things like salt, butter, vanilla, baking powder, eggs, and oil usually complete the mix.
There are many different cake flavors you can make as well. Here are a few of them.
- Chocolate
- Vanilla
- Strawberry
- Red velvet
- Angel food cake
- Carrot cake
- Butter cake
- Black forest cake
- Coconut
- Sponge cake
- Poundcake
- Coffee cake
- Devil’s food
This list just barely touches the surface of all of the types of cake out there.
How Cake is Made
Let’s cover a quick recipe of how cake is made.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare your baking pan. You can line the bottom with parchment paper. You should definitely grease the pan, particularly the sides.
- Mix together butter, oil, and sugar until it is nice and creamy.
- Add in eggs, eating the mix well.
- Stir in vanilla.
- Separately mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Slowly mix by hand the flour into the previous mixture. Do not over mix but stir until well combined.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes.
Freezing and Refreezing Cake
Chances are if you are here it’s because you already made a cake and make you even already froze your cake. Now you need to know what to do from here.
You froze your cake and you thawed it and served it. Now you still have leftover cake and you need to freeze it again.
It’s totally simple. But first, let’s cover the initial freezing process just to be sure. The tool to effectively preserving your cake lies in covering it well and then covering it again.
Initial Freezing of Cake
- First, allow the cake to cool completely.
- Start by wrapping the cake in plastic wrap.
- Then wrap again in aluminum foil. This step is optional but the added layer seems to be most effective for preserving the cake.
- Label and date
- Place the double-wrapped cake into a heavy-duty freezer bag or an airtight container. We recommend an airtight container so the cake does not get smashed in the freezer.
- Freeze up to 12 months.
People have been freezing cake for a long time. A common wedding tradition is to freeze the top tier of the cake for the bride and groom to eat one year later. Many bakers and cake makers will make cake layers ahead of time and freeze them for later as well.
You can freeze your cake fully frosted and decorated. You can also freeze an undecorated cake layer. However, what you should know is that if you plan to refreeze cake, it’s better if your initial freezing happens with an undecorated cake.
As an example, the cake maker might freeze the layers prior to fully assembling the cake. They should not freeze once assembled. But then you as the customer could freeze the assembled cake, which is refreezing the cake.
So now let’s get down to business.
Handling Cake After Initial Freezing Process
The key to being able to refreeze your cakes is to ensure that you freeze it and handle it properly, to begin with.
- Remove cake from the freezer.
- Place cake in the fridge for at least 8 hours to fully thaw out. We do not recommend thawing it at room temperature simply because the slow thawing method will keep the cake better intact with texture, flavors, and so forth.
- After cake is fully thawed, serve and enjoy as you like. Or decorate the cake if that is where you are in your processes.
It all seems so simple but remember that the ability to successfully refreeze your cake lies in handling it properly. If you think the cake might need to be frozen again, do NOT thaw it at room temperature or by any method using heat.
Allow your cake to thaw slowly overnight or even 1-2 days before it is needed.
We recommend that you store the cake in the fridge now. This is another important factor that will help to make your refreezing attempts successful.
How to Refreeze Cake
Here we find ourselves at the heart of the matter. There are mixed reviews of whether or not you should refreeze cake. It is perfectly safe to refreeze cake and if you do things right from the initial cooking process, everything will work fine!
- Cover the cake with plastic wrap to seal it and hold it together.
- Wrap the cake in a layer of aluminum foil to protect it from moisture and freezer burn.
- Place the cake in a heavy-duty freezer bag or airtight container.
- Label and date the cake.
- Refreeze cake for up to 3 months.
Related Questions
We hope that you have found this guide to refreezing cake to be helpful and informative and that you feel confident in your refreezing abilities.
Following, you will find some question-and-answer information. We invite you to take a look and see if any of the information might be useful for you.
How Will the Icing Be Affected by Freezing?
You can freeze a cake that has been iced or decorated. It is safe to do so and most frosting types are not negatively affected by freezing. The biggest challenge to freezing a cake that has been iced or decorated is to not ruin the frosting job.
The best way to do this is to do a pre-freeze and freeze the decorated cake 2-4 hours completely uncovered to help set the frosting. Then proceed to wrapping very gently.
Can I Freeze a Warm Cake?
You can freeze a warm cake but it is best to let it cool to room temperature. While the inside of the cake will not be affected by the temperature of the cake when you freeze it, the shell of the cake will be.
If you freeze a warm or hot cake, then the outer layers of the cake are somewhat sticky and may peel or rub off as you are working with the cake, even after freezing it the effects are residual. Everything else, including taste and overall texture, are not affected.