How to Cool a Cake: 7 Common Cake Tips to Expedite Cooling

Cake is a dessert that consists of a cake mix or batter, generally including flour, sugar, eggs, and shortening or another form of oil. This isn’t always the case, though—cheesecake uses different ingredients and is generally still considered a cake, whereas brownies share a similar texture and taste but aren’t. Cake is often a celebratory treat (as in “birthday cake”).

Your cake needs anywhere from ten minutes to a couple of hours to cool off before you can handle it completely without fear of it crumbling. If you wrap it in aluminum foil or plastic, you can store cake in the refrigerator or freezer. The freezer is preferable for longer periods of time since the refrigerator can dry out the cake’s moisture.

There are a host of kitchen hacks you can use to help cool your cake down. Follow these seven tips to learn how to cool a cake quickly:

1. 1. Consider the type of cake. Different kinds of cake require different cooling times and practices. For instance, angel food cake and other sponge cakes need to come out of their respective pans as soon as possible or else their bottoms will get soggy. That’s advisable for cupcakes and regular cake, too, but they’re not at as high of a risk. Cheesecake should cool naturally for longer than most other types of cake since sudden temperature changes can lead to poor results. Consult specific baking tips for whichever cake recipe you’re cooling.
2. 2. Check that the cake is done. Before you start your cooling time, you should make sure your cook time was adequate. You want a fluffy cake, not a half-baked pan of batter. Check to see if your cake is ready to start cooling by using the “toothpick test”: Stick a toothpick in the center of your cake and ensure it’s comes up clean. If there are no gooey batter or crumbs, it’s ready to start cooling. If you don’t have any toothpicks, you could always use a barbecue stick or another thin type of skewer.
3. 3. Cut the cake open. A whole cake will take longer to cool than several thin layers of that cake. This tip especially makes sense if you’re making a layer cake anyway. Even if you’re not, you can cover up the horizontal cuts with a layer of frosting or a crumb coat during the cake decorating process. Let your cake cool for about twenty minutes or so and then use a serrated knife to gently cut horizontal layers through it. Set each layer out separately to help them all cool faster.
4. 4. Leave the cake alone at first. Let your baked cake cool on its own before doing anything to expedite the cooling process. Ten minutes at room temperature is usually enough time. Store your hot cake on a flat surface like a countertop or cake stand for that period of time. Too many abrupt changes of temperature or attempts to cut the cake open early on can lead to problems like crumbling or expansion within the pan that will make it hard to remove the cake.
5. 5. Remove the cake from the baking pan. As soon as your warm cake has cooled at room temperature for ten minutes, gently remove it from the bottom of the cake pan. This allows the bottom and sides of the cake to stop drawing in the warmth of the pan itself. Once you expose the edges of the cake to a cooler, more natural temperature, it will start cooling much faster.
6. 6. Try a cooling rack. If you want to ensure you expose the bottom of your cake to cool air, consider using a cooling wire rack. This operates as a cake stand while letting plenty of air reach every part of your cake. Lay some parchment paper on top of it if you’re worried about moisture seeping through the grates.
7. 7. Use the refrigerator and freezer. The fastest way to cool a cake is to use your refrigerator and freezer. Only use the refrigerator for short periods of time, as too much time inside one can rob your dessert of its moisture in just a few days. Freezers don’t present the same problem. Use plastic wrap before storing your cakes in either place. You can always heat up your cold cake later if you’d prefer to serve it warm, although you can serve the dessert chilly, too.

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