I posted this in a thread on April 13, about whether we freeze our cakes or not...
I bake before I go to bed the night before the cake is due. I flip the cake out onto a papertowel covered rack and then cover in saran wrap while still hot. I set the cake pan back over the saran wrap and allow the cake to cool for at least two hours. Any extra moisture is wicked away by the paper towel. Then I put the cake and rack in a covered plastic blanket storage box and decorate it the next morning, on day of pick-up. I have done this for almost 20 years and everyone exclaims over how moist my cakes are. Never soggy, but never dried out. Good Luck!
So good to now know that so many others do the same thing, because people don't believe me when I say what a difference the saran wrap makes.
Now I had success with this method on the one cake I baked, but I posted this suggestion on another forum and got a different opinion.
They said the recipe takes into consideration when it is conceived that the moisture will leave it during the cooling off period and still be moist as an end product, so no saran wrap is needed.
The other comments was that a cake will continue to cook if the heat and wet heat (moisture) is not allowed to escape via air. If a person undercooks the cake to take this into consideration, then they risk the fact that the cake may not full cook and risk contamination.
The other comment was that sometimes the texture is rubbery, again, probably because the cake continues to cook.
I just thought I would throw this into the pool and see what everyone thought. It is an interesting topic.
I let my cakes cool 4 hours, wrap them in commerical plastic wrap, then a layer of foil and put them in a large commercial freezer, where they stay for usually 3-days to 2 weeks (I do all my baking for the week on the weekend and prepare for last minute orders, which I get a lot of! haha).
I tried one cake after reading this thread a few weeks ago and I found it very difficult to wrap the cake because it was so delicate, and almost cracked it. Maybe I just do a lot of large cakes? or my recipes are too delicate? I don't know..but my cakes are incrediably moist. So I really suspect its the freezer and defrosting that seems to do the trick.
I also worry about the plastic wrap 'taste' on the cake..as wouldn't it melt a little?
I've tried this with a couple of cakes and they turned out good. I baked the cake, let it cool in the pan for 10 mins, turned it out onto a cooling rack, then wrapped the whole thing in plastic wrap. Didn't have any problems with the wrap sticking to the cake. This method definately works good for me since a lot of times I'll bake my cakes at night and this way, I can wrap it while it's still hot as oppose to staying up late to what for it to cool before wrapping. I'll definately keep doing it 
Sorry to bring this back up, but I have a question!
Do you not have mold issues with this? I would probably only do 2 days ahead, so it wouldn't be out very long, but I worry about that heat & moisture causing bacteria to grow.
Thanks for the feedback! I usually cut all the "crusts" off anyway, so maybe it wouldn't be an issue at all.
I was watching something on food network, and one of the bakers was saying that as soon as they take the cakes out of the oven they flip them over onto a rack, leaving the pan on top. They said that this prevented the steam from leaving the cake.
I tried wrapping my recent cakes after cooling for 15 minutes and they were really moist and tasty, and just a little bit soggy on the bottom. I'm planning to keep playing around with this... Also, I had no problem removing plastic wrap.
Courtney
I saw that also. They said their cake was a sort of sponge cake.
That is exactly correct. I played around with this some more with a two layer cake. One layer cooled the normal way, the other wrapped in saran wrap. It did make the one wrapped a bit moister, but it also changed the texture into what you described as sponge-like.
If you have ever made one of the Chinese cakes where you steam them in a steamer instead of baking in the oven, it is the same process. These cakes are very spongy in texture and very moist. The saran wrap is doing the same thing, steaming the cakes.
This may be great for some recipes, like I said previously, my dense apple cake turned out to be more like a soaked fruit cake, yum. The white cake I tested was not so great. I lost the fluffy, tender crumb I so love.
I have to agree with Rodneyck. I noticed a different texture in my cakes also when I wrapped them in Saran Wrap about 10 minutes out of the oven. It wasn't light and fluffy like normal. I think I personally am going to stick with the way I've always done it and just let the cakes cool before wrapping them.
Sorry to bring this back up, but I have a question!
Do you not have mold issues with this? I would probably only do 2 days ahead, so it wouldn't be out very long, but I worry about that heat & moisture causing bacteria to grow.
Mold is not a problem. The heat from the cake kills the mold. (I majored in microbiolgy in school).
SugarFrosted wrote:
"I bake before I go to bed the night before the cake is due. I flip the cake out onto a papertowel covered rack and then cover in saran wrap while still hot. I set the cake pan back over the saran wrap and allow the cake to cool for at least two hours. Any extra moisture is wicked away by the paper towel."
SugarFrosted:
Do you filp the cake so the papertowel is on top of the cake as it cools while wrapped? I baked 6 layers, 3 days before decorating. When I unwrapped them they had a thin soggy layer on top that I had to shave off. I would like to avoid this in the future. I am making a wedding cake as a gift to the B&G, I plan to start baking Tue. afternoon. This will be 10 
layers and I would really like to avoid the soggyness.
Thanks
Sheri
just wondering, can you do this with cupcakes too? will it make the liner soggy?
so after it is wrapped, it is ok to leave out in room temp for the next 3 days?
A couple of weeks ago there was a thread going around and someone said they wrap their cakes in plastic wrap as soon as they take them out of the mold. Well, I tried it this week and it works like a charm. I took a cake to my niece's party, same recipe I have been using for a while now and everyone wanted to know what I did differently. The cake was so moist and I baked it on Monday night. I don't know who to thank but whoever posted the tip - THANK YOU!
You're welcome!! 
I don't know that I can necessarily take credit because I'm not sure what thread you saw, but this is a trick I teach all my students in my 101 class and I've shared it here on CC. Take the cake out of the oven, put it on a rack, after about 5 minutes turn the cake out. When it's still very warm but not hot, wrap the cake in plastic wrap really good, pop it back into the cake pan and put it in the frig (if decorating that day) or the freezer, if decorating on another day. The steam rising from the cake is the moisture in the cake escaping, this is they dynamics of it. Hope that helps some!! 
I have never let my cakes cool before removing them from the pans. I remove them immediately and wrap then place in the freezer. I always get complimented on how moist my cakes are. I will try my next one for the family using your method and see how I like it.
Does anyone know how this method works with a Wilton character pan shape?. As if I had to scrape off a soggy layer, I would be taking off the lines and markings that show me where to decorate (I'm only a beginner). With a Wilton character pan, would you wrap in the pan with the plastic wrap, or wrap the cake on its own. I wouldn't be needing the pan - as I only do 1 cake a month or so, as a hobby. I'd love to make mine moist like you all suggest, but cannot work out from everything I have read, whether to leave in pan or not. I would be using a mix cake.
I have been doing the freezing method for about 5 years. I bake my cakes (DH butter and devils food enhanced) (even character pans), and have two lengths of plastic wrap (slightly overlapping) (I use Glad Wrap) laying on the counter. As soon as I loosen the cake from the pan I flip carefully onto the the plastic wrap and cover the cake. I don't pull tight enough to alter the shape of the cake. I lay a cake board beside the cake and pull the cake onto the board by taking hold of the plastic a little. Then I lay two lenghts of foil ( slightly overlapping) and carefully slide the cake from the board onto the foil. After I cover the cake with the foil I slide it back onto the board (I usually keep boards that I use just for placing cakes in the freezer because sometimes the temp does change the board a little) and place on a shelf in my upright freezer. My DH bought me the upright freezer just so I could have shelves for cakes. I leave my cakes in the freezer from overnight to a few weeks. When I am ready to decorate I take out early in the morning. I remove the foil completely and pull the plastic wrap off the top and just have it sitting on the wrap. I usually am mixing and coloring icing while they thaw. I have decorated them completely thawed and barely thawed and never had any problems. I have had so many compliments on my cakes. My MIL who is the best from scratch cook in So. Ala loves my cakes. Go figure! Just this morning a friend that I had done a birthday cake for this past weekend took a piece to work and one of her employees who is getting married tasted it and said it was the best cake she had ever tasted. I'm not bragging and it isn't me and my expertise it is just something that works for me. I am going to try some of the methods that ya'll have been suggesting too. I have learned so much from CC. I did my first MMF and character sculpture this weekend and I wouldn't have had the confidence to do it if not for CC. Thank ya'll for all the sharing of ideas and methods. Sorry this is so long.
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