If I have a cake for Saturday, I typically bake Thursday evening and wrap in plastic wrap and leave on the counter for decorating Friday evening. And after unwrapping, it sometimes smells funny, like it's starting to spoil. Could it be that the cake is too moist?

I always level and let my cakes cool completely before wrapping. I'd prefer not to freeze them given it's such a short window. Should I at least refrigerate?

Anyone else experience this problem? Thoughts/recommendatinos?

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Why do you wrap them up if you are decorating the next day? I also bake on thursday, decorate friday for saturday delivery. My cakes don't dry out even though I don't cover them. I am usually covering them in buttercream or some other frosting which has fat in it which imparts some moisture back in on the off chance the cake got a little dry. But it also helps with frosting it if it is a little dry, wrapping it i would think makes it a little mushy which may be why you smell something off.

I usually refrigerate or freeze my cakes overnight. I have just found them easier to torte. Your location says you are in Phoenix. From my days at ASU, I know that some AZ people have a tendency to keep their houses warmer than some of the rest of us. I know at our house we didn't turn the air on unless the temp reached triple digits (we were poor college kids), but even my friends parents set their thermostat at 80. I am wondering if that might be a factor. In AZ I would probably at least refrigerate.

I do live in AZ, and our house is probably warmer since we don't yet have the air on, however, it hasn't been ridiculously hot yet.

I don't ice or fill my cakes until I decorate, but wrap to ideally maintain freshness. I'll get in the practice of refrigerating if it'll help.