Frosting a cake is one of the most exciting processes of baking.
However, when it comes to frosting, you have to ditch off being impatient and try to wait until the cake is cool enough.
As to the question of how long a cake should cool before frosting – it usually takes about one to two hours before you should do the decoration.
When you attempt to put on the frosting on a warm cake, you’ll expect to face such a baking disaster!
Thus, avoid being too fussy and always stick to the proper frosting process.
Decorating Cool Cakes – Reasons Explained
After you take out the cake from the oven, the next thing to do is let it sit and cool.
Baking experts reveal that cakes are too fragile when you frost them hot.
Therefore, it will be harder for you to spread the icing on top of it as it will likely cause breakage and deformation to the cake.
Meanwhile, it is not advised to frost a warm cake since the icing won’t stick easily, and instead, it will just melt.
And I bet you wouldn’t want to have such a runny cake!
Place the Cake Inside the Fridge
You have to give a few more hours before you can start placing the frosting on top of the cake.
To get you started, making use of a refrigerator or a freezer is a good idea. It would be best to allow your cake to cool down after removing it from the oven.
Please place it in a tight container before you let it cool inside the fridge. Let it stay inside for about 30 minutes.
Make sure to wrap the cake as it tends to dry out quickly inside the fridge when it is not covered.
Meanwhile, you can also opt to speed up the cooling process. You can choose to cut the cake into halves before you place it inside the freezer.
When you cut cakes into smaller pieces, they will surely cool faster and be ready for your frosting in no time!
Frosting Warm Cake is a Big No-No
With the question of how long a cake should cool before frosting, the answer always lies with the fact that no baker would want a cake frosting disaster, right?
Spreading the icing on top of a hot cake is a huge trouble. When you do so, your cake will face mishaps and might also crumble easily.
Therefore, to avoid such a problem with your baking task, never add icing when the cake is still warm.
When the cake is heated, it cannot hold its shape firmly. Hence, as you push off the frosting, it might affect its shape and form. And you wouldn’t want that to happen, I bet!
If you want are in a hurry, keep an eye on cooling your cake first. That is a golden rule before frosting!
Why Cooling a Cake Necessary before Frosting?
While cakes are typically baked at 350 degrees, taking them out from the oven for about 15 minutes won’t make it completely cool yet.
When cakes are warm, the possibilities are it hasn’t settled well yet. When you are forced to design it, you will create too much mess.
Even when you run out of time, always find the perfect solution of cooling down a cake before you even attempt to frost it.
Cooling a Cake Effectively
There are ways to cool down a cake – one can be through a fridge or just let it cool on your counter for more than an hour.
If you do so, you will let the heat out on the entire surface of the cake. By then, it will be a lot workable for you when you start putting the design on top.
Meanwhile, to check if the cake has sufficiently cooled down, you can try the toothpick test. Just try sticking a toothpick in the cake.
Let it stay for a couple of seconds before you take it out. After doing so, you can feel if it’s still warm inside.
If you also find some cake bits that stick into the toothpick, it could mean that your cake hasn’t been fully baked yet.
Then, you might need to place it again inside the oven!
Prepare the Cake for Frosting
Once the cake has completely cooled down, the perfect time for frosting has come!
The frosting is perhaps the most awaited part of your baking journey. Now that the cake is no longer warm, you don’t have to face the risk of getting your hands messy while frosting anymore.
To start the task, place the cake on a flat surface. You can also choose to use a rotating cake stand for it to be a lot more workable.
Always make sure that it is well settled in the stand to avoid getting messy as you start spreading off the icing on top of it.
Make sure to spread the icing entirely until such time that the cake is completely covered. To avoid deforming your cake, apply consistent pressure using a spatula.
Meanwhile, if you wish to add more flavors to the cake, you can also brush off some sweeteners on top of the cake before adding icing. That would be a brilliant idea, too!
After frosting your cake, what comes next is the most exciting part! Slice it and have it served on a plate.
I bet a cold drink would be a perfect pair for a perfect cake!
Final Thoughts
Now that you finally learned the answer to ‘how long should a cake cool before frosting,’ there’s no reason for you not to do it right from the start.
I am sure you’ll be a lot excited to do your baking task the next time around. If you follow these tips I have given you above, you will never get into a disaster when you frost the cake.
These techniques are imperative that you, as a baker, should learn. It is among the most straightforward baking rules that some people in the business might not even know.
Well, lucky for you for having to learn it today!
While we believe that frosting is an essential part of cake baking, we should also do it correctly.
As to the varied cake designs, you can Google up and look for unique cake frosting ideas yourself!
The frosting is something that makes the cake captivating. You can always do this trick as not to make your cake appear dull and colorless.
While it seems like waiting is part of frosting, you need to learn to be patient as you need to let your cake cool down.
Letting your cake cooldown is also another means of protecting your cake from a disaster. Thus, always keep in mind to let it sit and color after baking.
There you go! I hope I have given you detailed information regarding ‘what to do’ and ‘what not to do’ when frosting.
There’s nothing wrong with the kind of frosting you use, as long as you can do it with the right timing. In baking, timing is everything!