How to look after your cake
Keep the cake in its closed box in the fridge and eat it within two days. Take it out half an hour to an hour before serving, and carry it flat and low in the car — the footwell or the boot floor, never a seat.
Fridge, in the box
Out before serving
Flat and low in the car
Lift from the base
How long does a cake last?
Ours are best within two days of collection or delivery, kept in a closed box in the fridge. Beyond that they are still safe to eat, but the sponge begins to dry and the buttercream firms, so what you serve on the fourth day is not what you were handed.
Cut cake goes stale faster than whole cake, because every cut face is a surface losing moisture. If you are cutting the day before, press a piece of baking parchment against the cut side and put the cake back in its box.
How should I store a cake?
In the fridge, in the box it came in, with the lid on, for up to two days. The box does as much work as the cold does: an uncovered cake dries out within hours and takes on the smell of whatever else is in the fridge. The Food Standards Agency's guidance on chilling food is the authority on the rest of what is in your fridge; a cake is less fragile than most of it, but it dries faster.
- Keep it level, on a shelf where nothing can lean against it.
- Away from direct sunlight and anywhere warm — buttercream softens quickly.
- Away from damp. Humidity makes fondant sticky and dulls fine piping.
- Out of reach of children and pets until it is served.
How do I transport a cake?
Flat and low. The footwell behind a front seat is the steadiest place in most cars; the boot floor is the next best. A car seat is the worst, because the base is sloped and the cake slides on every corner, and a lap is worse still.
- Lift the box from underneath, and hold the cake by its board rather than the cake.
- Brake and corner gently, and set off before the cake has warmed up.
- In summer, air conditioning is worth more than speed.
- A tiered cake never travels assembled — we bring the tiers and build it where it will be served.
What should I do before serving?
Take the cake out of the fridge 30 to 60 minutes beforehand: cold mutes the flavour and stiffens the buttercream, and both come back as it warms. A 10-inch cake needs the full hour; a 6-inch is ready in half that. Stand it on a plate or board a little wider than the cake, so there is somewhere to put the knife down and somewhere to hold.
Take off anything that is not edible first. Toppers, picks, ribbons and some floral decorations are not meant to be eaten, and we point out which ones when you collect the cake or when it is delivered.