Storing cake without plastic: how to keep it moist

A cake does not dry out from the top first. It dries out from the cut face. Cover the cut and leave the rest alone, and the cake stays moist for days, with no cling film at all.

A cake dries out from the cut face

A whole cake manages well on its own. The baked surface is the cake's own lid. The moment you cut the first slice, you open moist crumb straight on to the room air. That is where the drying starts, and it goes fast.

So the rule is simple: cover the cut, not the whole cake. Wrap the whole cake up tightly and you get the opposite problem. The moisture gathers on the surface, and a dry top turns sticky overnight.

If the cake is round, push the halves together once the slices have been cut out. Then the cut faces meet, and there is almost nothing left to cover.

Room temperature or fridge?

The fridge is wrong for most cakes, for the same reason it is wrong for bread. Cold, dry air makes the starch in the batter set faster, and the cake turns dry and grainy long before it has actually gone off. There is more on that in the guide to bread in the fridge.

The cakes that do have to be chilled are the ones with whipped cream, cream cheese frosting, cream fillings, soured cream or fresh fruit. There, food safety weighs more than moistness. Take the cake out 30 to 60 minutes before serving, and both the flavour and the texture come back. The rest keep best somewhere dark and cool in the room, not above the cooker and not in the sun.

How to cover a cake without cling film

1. 1
   Let the cake go completely cold first

   A lukewarm cake steams, and the steam turns to water under whatever is covering it.

2. 2
   Cut only what you are eating now

   Every new cut face is a new opening. The rest keeps best uncut.

3. 3
   Warm the sheet in your hands

   Beeswax softens at 35 to 40 °C, which is plain hand warmth. Hold the sheet between your hands for a few seconds and it turns pliable.

4. 4
   Press the sheet against the cut face

   Lay the sheet on the cut and press the edges lightly into place. As the wax cools down, the sheet holds the shape on its own.

5. 5
   Let the top breathe

   If the cake is iced, the sheet should not lie against it. Lay it loosely over the top, or put a bowl upside down over the cake.

Beeswax wraps are cotton with beeswax and tree resin, in three sizes: S, M and L. The smallest sheet covers the cut on a loaf cake, and the largest folds around a whole slice. Rich, fatty cream leaves marks in the wax, but that is cosmetic. Wash the sheet in cold water with mild soap, see care of beeswax wraps.

How long each type of cake stays moist

Yeasted bakes and muffins behave differently

Buns, kringle and julekake, the sweet Norwegian Christmas bread, are not really cake at all. They are yeasted baking, that is, bread with sugar and fat in it, but they dry out far faster than a whole loaf, because they are small and have a lot of surface.

They belong in a beeswax bread bag, not under a tea towel on a plate. The bag is cotton and linen coated with beeswax, jojoba oil and tree resin, and it closes with a clip. It lets out enough moisture to keep the surface dry, and at the same time it slows the drying down. A whole loaf keeps fresh for 7 to 10 days in the bag. Small buns are best in the first couple of days whatever you do. If the buns are from yesterday, a few minutes in the oven gives them new life, see reviving dry bread.

Muffins want the opposite: air. Packed tightly, the top turns chewy instead of light.

Freeze slices, not the whole cake

A whole cake in the freezer is impractical. It has to be thawed in one piece, and then it all has to be eaten. Cut the cake into portions while it is completely fresh instead, and freeze the slices one by one.

Loaf cake, chocolate cake and carrot cake all freeze well. Cakes with cream or fresh fruit turn watery. Thaw the slice on the worktop, 30 to 60 minutes, while it is still wrapped. Unwrap it too early and the condensation settles on the outside of the cake. It is the same principle as in the guide to freezing bread properly.

Beeswax wraps can be used as the first layer around the slice, but the wax stiffens in the cold, and the sheet is not completely sealed. For longer storage you need something tighter on the outside, see beeswax wraps in the freezer.

Frequently asked questions