Hi all,

I have a big wedding order and am worried about getting everything done in one day. If I mixed the cake batter up the night before would it be ok?
I am doing vanilla cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes.

Thanks
Jo

Absolutely

I just read a thread that said you can also mix the batter and freeze it and you could also bake and freeze

Can you really do this? I thought batters should ideally be used right away???? But it would be convenient sometimes to make the batter ahead of time.

Can't you bake the cupcakes and freeze them?

Of course you can make up batter and hold it. If you couldn't no bakery in the country could survive. I always have batter on hand.

I can only hold my chocolate cake batter because it is baking soda based. For my yellow I use double acting baking powder. If I hold it it doesnt rise as well. The double acting baking powder reacts twice, on contact with the liquid and then the heat. So you lose the effectiveness of that first reaction if you hold it. It works but not as well. Just my experience. Even if I make a large batch and have to wait 30 minutes for one set of cakes to come out of the oven to put the next in I notice a real difference in height and light texture.

I do it all the time. I like to have batter on hand for last minute cakes. When customers call klast minute I say OK and tell them what flavors I have available. It saves time.

Leah_s, I know you've said before you do this (and as a consequence, so do I now! ), but do you ever freeze your batter?

Suppose you make the batter and keep it in the fridge. What do you have to do to use it again, i.e, bring it to room temp or mix it again etc? Is it better to put it in the freezer or fridge for best results? Thanks.

I've never frozen batter as I generally don't have a reason to keep it that long. It's good for several days in the fridge.

Ideally you should probably bring it back to room temp, and sometimes I do and sometimes I'm in a hurry. I frequently do beat it a bit and that does seem to improve the texture. But the leftover batters are typically what I'm using for flavored cakes like strawberry or orange or lemon, so I have to beat in the flavor concentrates and extracts anyway.

If it has double acting baking powder, you have to keep it cold, or the cupcakes won't rise as much.