"Cold cake tastes like old cake!"
That's a direct quote from our friend Sara McCall of Stunning & Brilliant Events, South Carolina's premiere event planning company. We couldn't agree more!
While most food should go into the fridge to keep fresh, cake is not one of them. That is to say, if your cake is not going to be consumed immediately, it should go in the fridge. But, for the love of all things sweet, please don't slice it and eat it cold. You're missing out on all things luxurious, sensory, and flavorful that make cake the delightful confection that it is.
Don't believe me? Try this experiment. Slice off a little bit of butter from that stick in the fridge and eat it. Now, take a small bit of softened, room temperature butter and eat that. The flavor and textural differences should be obvious. Cold saturated fats are waxy; the fat particles are cold and stuck to each other. When you put that in your mouth, it's just the outer layer of fats that warms up at body temperature, only slightly clinging to your taste buds, delivering flavor. You're missing out on all of the molecules of flavor! It's the same for any other flavors mixed into the cake and frosting: the pistachio in our pistachio buttercream frosting, the cinnamon in our brown butter chocolate frosting, the imported vanilla that goes into our yellow cake for Smith Island cake-in-a-jar. When cold, those flavors simply don't develop in your mouth. Contrast that with a bite of room temperature cake (or butter) and notice how the softened fat particles all literally melt in your mouth, coating your entire mouth and revealing all of the cake’s superb flavors.
The lack of melding flavors isn't the only drawback to cold cake. Cold cake tastes like dry cake. The cake isn't dry, it's just that the fat particles within haven't warmed up and softened; cold, saturated fat is hard, creating a gritty, dry texture. Room temperature cake is light, springy, and soft.
There's a reason your grandmother's glass pedestal cake stand has an accompanying glass dome lid: the cake is intended to be stored on the counter, at room temperature. A buttercream frosted cake - whose primary ingredient is BUTTER - simply tastes better at room temperature. And, of course, having it on the counter makes it that much easier to indulge in a delicious slice when a hankering arises.
The jar and lid part of our cake-in-a-jar acts just like that domed cake stand, keeping your cake moist and fresh as it comes up to room temperature.
And how long will that take? A couple of hours, but, for best results, we recommend leaving the cake-in-a-jar out overnight.
Is it ready to eat? Here's the test.
Grab your spoon and dip it into the jar. If you have to break through the top layer of icing, it's not ready. Your spoon should easily press through the top layer of frosting and slide down all the way to the bottom of the jar, allowing you to draw up a large spoonful, capturing each layer of cake, frosting, and topping.
Just look at that indulgent bite!
We know you're impatient and can't wait to dig into your cake-in-a-jar. Please, we beg of you, let it come up to room temperature before consuming. We promise it will make for a far, far more enjoyable eating experience. Science is on our side on this one.