quick cake question

[gertdog]

Hi all!

DF's birthday is on Friday. I am planning a fairly simple birthday dinner for him (i.e. I can make most of it after work on Friday). But I do want to make him a cake, and I'm pretty sure I can't pull that off between 5 and 8 on Friday in addition to the rest of the meal. :)

My question is, how far in advance can you make a cake? Could I make the layers tonight (I have some free time), then store them until Friday and frost them then?

How would you store the layers to keep them moist?

Thanks for the help!

[dcornelius]

How about gallon sized zip-lock bags! I love those babies! I use them for everything! You can take a straw and suck the air out of it for added freshness, but with a cake layer I would be careful not to suck out to much air that you crush the cake:) My DD friends are always making fun of me for sucking the air out of my zip-lock bags but it works great to keep things fresh!

[stomkow]

yes, you can make the layers today.... you can even make layers way ahead of time and freeze them...

to keep them moist, let them cool completely then wrap each layer completely in plastic wrap.... that should do the trick!

[Vanessa]

I usually make cakes the same day but for the doble coconut cake I made it the day before, let it cool on wire racks then place in zip lock bags. The next day I did the frosting and assemble the cake. Some cakes like carrot cake from CL because of the frosting (same with coconut one) need to be refrigerated. If you are doing a reg cake you can do it put layers covered and if you are short on time use canned frosting. Another option is a bundt cake. Because its winter I have made them a day before and they are fine. In the summer I have to be more careful

[gertdog]

Thank you all for the help! I think I'll try making the layers tonight, ziplocking and refrigerating them, then making the frosting on Friday and assembling it. It's a buttermilk spice cake with a cream cheese frosting, and it will be my very first experience using my new KitchenAid stand mixer... woohoo! :D

Thanks again, I appreciate the advice.