Wait Until Your Cake is Cool Before Icing

While you might be impatient to start decorating your cake as soon as possible, it’s crucial to wait until it has properly cooled before getting stuck in. But why exactly do you need to do this?

Cool Cakes Are Easier to Decorate

One of the main reasons for waiting for your cake to cool is that cakes are still very fragile when hot, and so spreading the icing is likely to create breakage and a lot of crumbs, spoiling your smooth finish. The other reason to wait is that if the cake is too hot, your icing won’t stay put, and will melt into the cake. And no one likes a runny cake!

How Long to Cool a Cake Before Icing It?

Our recommendation on how long to cool a cake before icing it is to wait 2-3 hours for your cake to cool completely. Then, add a crumb coat and refrigerate the cake for up to 30 minutes. Once that is done, you’ll be able to ice until your heart’s content.

How to Cool a Cake Quickly?

Sometimes there isn’t enough time to cool a cake for hours or overnight, so what can you do if you’re in a time pinch? Luckily, we have a few cooling hacks you can use.

• Take your cake out of the pan after it has been left to sit for 10 minutes and place it directly onto a cooling tray.
• Cut your cake. More layers mean more air, forcing your cake to cool faster. You need to be gentle at this stage and make sure the cake has had time to sit outside of the pan for at least 10 minutes before attempting this.
• Pop your cake in the fridge or freezer! This is the easiest and most effective way of cooling your cake. However, it works best when used with the above steps – for instance, place your cake on the cooling tray, and then into the freezer. When it has cooled on the outside, you can attempt to cut it, then place it back in the fridge or freezer.