I was watching Food Network's The Secret Life Of - Cakes episode recently and they had on these owners of a bakery who suggested that one should always apply a coat of simple syrup to the outsides of their cake after they've cooled, before crumb coating to seal in moisture.

Does anyone do this? If so, does it help significantly and would it affect the taste of the cake (i.e. make it sweeter)? The recipe they used was equal parts water to sugar and boil until slightly thickened - and you just brush it on.

I'm very curious since I am looking for a way to keep my cakes moist for a at least two days before serving while I decorate. I unfortunately cannot devote 6 to 10 hours straight on decorating since I am a SAHM and my son comes first. And this may seem long but I am new and am still learning hence also very SLOW lol.

Any insight would be great...TIA.

I do simple syrups on my butter cakes, but you should also keep them wrapped airtight to keep them from drying out. It does keep them from drying out to a certain extent, but you can also used flavored syrups to add an extra layer of flavor to the cake.

Thanks costumeczar! I think I'll do the coat since it doesn't hurt the cake and will give it that "extra layer".

I guess when I'm not working on them, I could always put the cakes in a container with a tight lid as I cannot wrap them after I already have the fondant on. I've read on another post that the BC & fondant usually keep the cake from drying out but for some reason, mine still dry out by the time they're served and so I figured that extra day of decorating must be the factor.

Just be careful about putting any gumpaste or fondant shapes that have dried into an airtight container with buttercream. I found out the hard way that the moisture from the icing will recirculate back into the sugar and make your gumpaste turn to mush

I use syrup (flavored with a liqueur or extract to complement the cake) on EVERY cake. My cakes are NOT dry (very moist, even without the syrup), but because I make all of my filling from scratch (mousses, custards, fruit fillings, etc) that must be refrigerated, the syrup helps the cake retain moisture while I am working on them throughout the week (refrigeration can dry out a cake--the syrup prevents this). It also adds another layer of flavor. I don't however, apply it to the outside of the cake. I torte all of my cakes, and each layer gets syrup before it gets the filling (the top layer would get syrup applied to the underside, so the outside of the cake will not be wet).

Wow...thanks a lot costumeczar & PinkZiab.

There would be no way for me to know all this w/o your input. I'm so glad I posted my question now...learned a lot...thx again.

I do it exactly the same way that pinkziab does it, down to the no syrup on the top!

How much of the syrup do you use for one 9" cake? I've seen many recipes and references to the syrup in cookbooks, but none of them indicate how much to use on one cake. Using all of the recipe seems excessive to me - at least at first glance.

From what I saw on the episode I mentioned, they just say to brush on a thin layer so I'm assuming you don't use the full amount on one individual cake.

Personally, I would adjust the recipe for the amount I think I'll need, but I'm no expert.