Well all I can say is I have been using this method for over 15 years, and have never had anyone get sick from it. The cakes never last long enough for it to ever be an issue.

Hi cakesdivine and welcome to CC, Thank You so much for all your tips and the recipe i will try it for my DH's b-day nex week, and thank you all of you guys for all your post, this is very informative and is good that everybody share their tips and experiences so we can learn new tips an techniques and improve our knowledge, by the way I have a ???? I read in this post that we can decorate the cake with fondant and icing when is frozen did I understand right? thank you again to everybody and HAPPY BAKING!!!!

I looked it up. I can look up the date when the USDA "suggested" the flour to be enriched. This is from http://www.dietitian.com/foodlab.html

The following wheat flours do not include red durum or semolina, which contains bran specs from durum and both are used in the manufacture of pasta. Nor are soft wheat flours included, which are used in the manufacture of cakes, cookies and pastries. Bread flours are made from hard wheat, which contains more gluten (protein) and provides structure to bread.

Wheat Flour is made by grinding wheat and typically does not contain the bran or germ.

Enriched Flour (wheat) is wheat flour (no bran or germ) that has been enriched with thiamin, riboflavin and niacin and may include Vitamin D, iron and calcium that are lost during flour processing.

Enriched Flour (flour) is the same as the above except that the source of the grain is not identified. Other grains such as rye, oats, barley or soybeans can be used in the making of this flour.

To expand upon what sillyjodes said, freezing does not kill bacteria. The cooking process kills the bacteria in the cake and the immediate freeze retains the cake in its sterile state.
E.Coli and other bacteria are stored 'alive' at -80C (-112F) where they essentially 'hibernate' and then are brought to 37C (98.6F) to resume growth. This is a method routinely used in labs for production of DNA. (I'm a scientist) There are some bacteria that survive and reproduce outside of this range such as those found in hot springs, but you aren't going to find them in your kitchen! So you don't have to worry about this method making you sick.
Happy Baking!

Thank you Dr. Tina!

Silly old me hopping on the band wagon to share my silly old thoughts...

If I had to worry about all of the things I've seen come up regarding health practices with cakes, I'd be the most paranoid freak ever.

I use rubber stamps, I'll use the Preval sprayer if I can get my hands on one, I stick floral wires into cakes, paint food coloring on with regular old paintbrushes... Oh, and so does Duff (who never freezes his cakes).

In my previous statements, I intentionally used layman's terms and kept my comments generic, so that I would not sound like I was coming down hard on Cakesdivine. That's not my intention. However, I do not believe this process follow safe food handling.
Now, I can break into some jargon and bore everyone hear to sleep about bacterial growth and aseptic procedures, but I find that turns people off.
I would like to reiterate that freezing will not kill bacteria. Your hands, your counter, the plastic wrap, all have the potential to introduce contaminates to your food. Providing an ideal environment (warm and moist) for things to grow should never be a cooks intention. We should strive to avoid these situations.

There are a couple topics that come up on CC that seem to bring up alot of strong opinons. BC vs. fondant, mix vs. scratch. So it seems we have another topic to add to the list.

To wrap/freeze or not to.

Dr. Tina, thanks for the info. I'd say that settles it once and for all. Thanks for looking out for us!

So I have been giving this some thought the last couple days. Aside from the creepy crawlies, this is my questions. Does this method make the cake moist or soggy? I mean, if I was to let it come to room temp instead of frosting it well frozen and its so moist is falls apart, I guess I would be worried about it being soggy or mushy. Also, does the weight of the icing affect the end product? If I add alot of flowers or whatever on the cake, does is sag?

I don't know, I am just wondering...

I have tried freezing cakes twice. Both times wrapping while hot, but both times the cake come out fudgy.
Does anyone else have this problem. I didn't get a nice cake crumb, I got a very dense cake.

I will take full responsibility in maybe I didn't cook it long enough but it passed the toothpick test.

Also when I did this, I did not frost them semi-frozen. I let them thaw completely and when I underwrapped them there was moisture around the cake that had to "dry" or be damped off before I could ice it. If that's the case, am I loosing the moisture when I let them air dry a bit to ice them, right?

I know that some people ice semi-frozen which I will try again at another time.

Limiting Growth: Microbial shelf-Life Testing:
(By: Michael S. Curiale, Ph.D.)

http://www.foodproductdesign.com/articles/1998/02/limiting-growth-microbial-shelf-life-testing.aspx

Reinforcing the Links in the Food Safety Chain:

http://www.foodproductdesign.com/articles/1996/06/reinforcing-the-links-in-the-food-safety-chain.aspx

Prolonging Bakery Product Life:
(Scroll down to Less Water Activity & Minimizing Microbes.)

http://www.foodproductdesign.com/articles/1998/07/prolonging-bakery-product-life.aspx

HTH

Thanks cakesdivine! I tried the moist cake recipe and my family and friends absolutely loved this cake. They said it was the best cake in the world.... and it was the same recipe I always use, but the cakes tasted sooooo different. It was wonderful the first night, and the next day even better! Thanks for your help... you're the best ever!

Wow..this is been a very interesting thread..would love more info on the scientific facts of cakes and bacteria.

I am a firm believer that everybody does things their own way.
I do already the same things cake divine does to the exception I use saran wrap from sam's
I believe bacteria lives everywhere around us, and you deal with it even sleeping.
This system do work.

I had a student I gave a recipe for making buttercream. She came to me and her recipe was all runny. I couldn't understand why, she said she follow the recipe. I never had trouble with it.
So I decided to do the recipe with her and it work wonderfully.
The steps she took were different than mine.
Sometimes little things we do do different, from person to person, will change the outcome on something we are working on.
Basically what I am saying.. if it didnt work for someone in here, maybe something you did different change the outcome.
Even grease in the walls of your oven will change the outcome.

This is just food for thought..enjoy the tips cakedivine gave you. If you feel uncomfortable, find what best works for you. At the end that's what matters.


Happy baking!...
Edna

thankyou for sharing this

do you know where i can find this recipe on here?


thank you!!!

is this the recipe???

http://cakecentral.com/cake_recipes_id-add_box-2322.html

While my method works with any recipe other than Angelfood cake (or sponge cakes) it does fair better with cakes that have a pudding in the recipe. Butter cakes don't change much in texture but they are moister than without using this method. And believe it or not the best cakes to respond to this method is a box mix or a recipe that uses a mix as it's base.

Again, those that want to try this method great, those that are nay sayers, that's cool too. But, it does work and it is safe. And generally the cake won't last long enough for anything to grow on or in it, it will be gobbled up before you know it

A lot of what has been said in this post goes against a lot of what I was taught about baking and freezing so I guess I feel a little uncomfortable with some of the methods mentioned but each to their own. People have their own way of doing things and if it works for you great!

I never use cold ingredients in baking as it causes curdling of the batter especially when using the creaming method. I have tried using cold ingredients and it just does not work for me at all

I would never put anything hot or even warm in a fridge or a freezer this goes against what I was taught about basic preservation and bacteria.

I don't tightly wrap warm foods either as this increases bacteria growth and remember that freezing does not kill bacteria it just inhibits its growth until you defrost your cake!

If I want a moist cake I bake a moist cake and I don't rely on "sweat" to make my cake moist. Sweat being bacteria bestest buddy!

My best tip for making a cake moist is to add half a teaspoon of glycerine per egg used in the batter!

Banba, I have not tried it, but a friend of mine said to put a couple of Tablespoons of corn syrup in a cake mix to make it more moist. Would that do the same as glycerin?
I have no formal knowledge of food safety, but I thought another reason to not put warm or hot food in the fridge or freezer is that it lowers the temperature in the whole fridge/freezer and it could be unsafe for the rest of the food in there.

I know this does not speak to the whole wrapping while warm controversey, But. I tried the corn syrup in a plain ol red velvet box cake with nothing else added, made cupcakes and cooled them in the traditional manner and iced them as soon as they were cool enough. They came out very moist. My niece said they were the best cupcakes she had ever tasted.

Thanks Cake Divine, your tip help me a lot with a box cake, it was very, very good!!!!Thanks.