I read somewhere that some people put cakes straight from the oven into the freezer while they are still hot. i take it you take them straight from the tin and wrap in plastic wrap and place hot into the freezer. this would make them more moist?
Does anyone do this? is it ok for the freezer to put hot things in it? and also does it not make the cake soggy? im interested as i find that my cakes are lovely and most coming out of the oven but by the time they cool in the tin completely they are a lot dryer and firmer on top, so keeping them moist usually involves sugar syrup.

Thanks

Cathy

Hi Cathy, I don't it like that, but I know some do that. When my cakes come out of the oven, I let it cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Then turn it over on to a cooling rack and let it cool completley . Then I wrap them in saran wrap and then in foil and then put it in a freezer bag and then in the freezer. The cakes are really moist when it comes out of the freezer.

The only time I had soggy cake is when I used the leveler before freezing. I forgot to use my baking strips, too, which will never happen again! I wrapped it in two layers of saran wrap and then foil. But when I pulled it out of the freezer less than a week later, the top that had been cut had a thick layer of ice on it. I let it defrost wrapped as it was not iced and I didn't want it to dry out. When I opened it, that top was wet and soggy. I imagine if you leave your cake intact that it will be protected. And I think other people have had good results putting cakes in freezer right away. Let us know your results!

Cathy24 I sent you a PM about this. There have been many threads regarding this issue and I really don't want it stirred up again. I swear by this method!

IMHO, it's fine to wrap a hot cake so you can catch all the escaping steam and moisture and then let it cool to room temp before freezing it, but it is never a good idea to place a hot cake into a freezer - especially in a residential freezer.

I recently bought a new high-end, large upright freezer and the instructions were very, very specific about how many room temperature things you can put in the freezer at once in order to not decrease the temp in the freezer - and it stressed NEVER to put hot things in the freezer.

When you put a hot cake in the freezer, it takes much longer to cool and freeze that cake, due to the 'igloo' effect. The outer layer of cake cools down and thermally insulates the inside of the cake, keeping it hot/warm longer. This just stresses your freezer and does NOTHING for the cake itself. It also lowers the overall temp in the freezer, which could decrease the quality of the other other items in there.

Cakesdivine is a proponent of putting hot things in the freezer with no ill effects to her freezer or the other frozen goods she stores in it, apparently...but I will respect the experts on this one. I didn't just lay out a thousand bucks to go disregarding the instructions and screwing up either the freezer or the quality of the other things I store in the freezer.

Different things work for different folks.

I place the warm cakes, not hot, in the freezer and it is always moist, never soggy. When I take the cake out of the oven, I take the out of tha pan and lt it cool down for about 15 minutes. I then wrap them up and place in freezer.

I have tried once making a chocolate cake recipe from a pastry chef with specific instructions to put the hot cake in the freezer. Came out very moist and not soggy at all.

The only reason I don't like putting a hot cake right away is that the cake is just too fragile to handle.

have a couple of madeira cakes to bake tomorow so i think il bake them, wrap and them then let them cool before freezing so im sort of halfway there! i was worried also about wrecking my freezer putting hot stuff in so at least i should still get all the moistness with the wrapping.