Can You Refrigerate Cake Batter?
Have you ever started mixing up cake batter and then got distracted and didn’t get to finish making your cake?
Or maybe you mixed up a bunch of batter, not quite sure how much you needed, and you had extra batter leftover. You didn’t want to just toss it out and waste it!
There are some ways that you can store cake batter for short periods of time if you aren’t able to use it up right away. Most of the solutions are just meant to be short-term solutions when you need something quick to tide you over.
Can you refrigerate cake batter? Yes, you can refrigerate cake batter. It’s meant for short-term use but you can certainly use it when you need to preserve your batter for a day or two. It’s a really great solution if you know the steps that you can follow to keep the batter fresh and safe until you can use it.
In this guide, we will share with you how to refrigerate cake batter. We have some specific tips for properly storing cake batter that you can use.
Keep in mind that these solutions are meant to be short-term but they should be helpful when you find yourself in a pickle and need some way to store your cake batter for a bit.
Keep reading to learn how to refrigerate cake batter and more!
How To Refrigerate Cake Batter
Ideally, you should try to use your batter when you mix it. However, we know that things happen. Whether you mixed up too much batter or you had to stop and take a break, you can put the batter away in the fridge for a day or two.
We mentioned this already but saving cake batter in the fridge is only meant to hold you for a couple of days—48 hours at the most. You might also be able to freeze the batter but it may affect the quality of the batter.
Here are your steps for how to refrigerate cake batter:
- Leave your batter in the mixing bowl or transfer it to a dish that seals and closes.
- Be sure that if you leave it in the mixing bowl, you securely cover the top with plastic wrap. Both ways, you need to be sure it is airtight and sealed in.
- Place the cake batter in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours.
It’s really that simple. Refrigerating takes very little effort as long as you make sure that you have stored your cake batter in an airtight manner in the meantime.
The main reason that you only have 48 hours is because of the ingredients that are in the batter but also because it will rise better fresh than it will if it sits.
When you’re ready to pull the batter out of the fridge and bake it, you can actually bake it cold when you do so.
You can also let it sit for about 30 minutes and come to room temperature. Stir it up just to be sure nothing settled while it was sitting in the fridge.
When you bake it cold, just be aware that it might take a few more minutes to bake than usual so keep an eye on the baking progress and adjust your baking time slightly if needed.
Other than that, you really shouldn’t run into any issues with using the fridge for a couple of days.
How Long Can Cake Batter Last In The Fridge?
If you think about the ingredients in cake batter, you have things like eggs, milk, oil, flour, sugar, and so on. All of those things stay fresh in the fridge, as long as it’s not there long enough for them to spoil.
It is recommended to only use the fridge to store your cake batter for about 48 hours.
This timeline is really not to prevent spoilage but rather because your batter is going to lose air and the more air that it loses, the less it will rise when it bakes.
Even in an airtight container, air is going to escape the batter. It’s not anything that you are doing wrong, it’s just the way it works. Basically, the less time that you refrigerate the batter, the better the cake results will be in the end.
There is nothing wrong with refrigerating your batter but you definitely only want to use that solution when you must and you only want to use it for short periods if at all possible.
We recommend a few hours or even overnight but then go ahead and use the batter if you can.
Can You Store Cake Batter In The Freezer?
If you really want to save that cake butter but you just know you won’t get it used within 48 hours, go ahead and just put it in the freezer.
You should be aware that it will not be exactly the same after it’s been frozen but it will still bake up fine when you remove it from the freezer.
This is a great way to prevent wasting the cake batter. Here’s the catch. We don’t recommend that you refrigerate your batter for 48 hours and then try to freeze it. Remember during all of that time, it is degrading in quality.
However, if you freeze it when it is fresh, it will hold that same quality. Will it affect the batter? Yes, it will slightly but not drastically. It will still bake up ok, especially if you stir it well after it has defrosted.
Follow these steps to freeze and then bake your cake batter:
- Move the cake batter into either a freezer-safe dish or a freezer bag.
- Be sure to properly seal all packaging. If you use a freezer bag, it wouldn’t hurt to double bag it just to be sure.
- Label and date your packaging.
- Place in the freezer and store in this manner for up to 3 months.
- When you remove it from the freezer, you will need to let it defrost completely.
- Move it to the fridge and give it 24 hours to defrost.
- Before you pour it into a baking pan, we recommend putting it back in a mixing bowl.
- In the mixing bowl, go ahead and re-mix the batter to be sure it’s all mixed back together. This will help with the baking process.
- Now, you can bake your cake as needed.
The most challenging part about freezing cake batter is that the freezing process could affect the texture or quality of your batter. However, if you mix it back up as we mentioned in these steps, you most likely won’t notice a difference.
Can We Leave The Batter At Room Temperature?
You should never leave cake batter at room temperature for more than about an hour. The reason for this is that your cake batter most likely has things like eggs in it. It might even have milk.
Both milk and eggs are meant to be chilled and can’t be left at room temperature for extended periods of time.
If you are not going to be able to use the cake batter within about an hour, we recommend coming up with a plan to store it away safely until you use it.
This is the point where you can go ahead and bake it, move it to the fridge, or freeze it for later.
Related Questions
We hope that you find this guide to refrigerating cake batter to be a valuable resource. You can definitely use the refrigerator or even the freezer to help preserve your cake batter, as long as you know how to do it properly.
We invite you to review the following question and answer sections for some additional information.
Can I make cake batter ahead of time?
You should make your batter right before you use it if you can. However, if you need to make it the night before to make your life a little bit easier, this is ok too.
Just be sure to cover it well and stick it in the fridge in the meantime and then stir it when you use it.
Will baking soda affect my cake batter in the fridge?
Baking soda does produce some of the air in the batter that causes it to rise up. If your cake batter is only in the fridge for a few hours, you probably won’t notice an issue.
However, the longer it sits, the more air escapes, and your cake may not rise as much when you bake it.
Can I bake cold cake batter?
Yes, as long as your batter is not frozen, you can go ahead and bake it! You can choose to let the batter sit out and come to room temperature for 20 minutes or so if you would rather.
Otherwise, you can go ahead and bake it cold. If you do bake it cold, just watch it during baking. You might need to bake a few extra minutes.
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