Can I Leave Frosted Cake out for 24 hours?

[escondido123]

I rarely bake, and in fact this may be the first triple layer chocolate cake I have even made. I had planned to frost it tomorrow afternoon, but now that will be difficult so I wanted to do it tonight--but finding room in the frig once frosted will be difficult. So, the ganache frosting is chocolate, cream, sugar, corn syrup and butter. Can I make this now, frost the cake tonight and leave it out, covered, until tomorrow night? Also, it will be high 80s tomorrow with no AC! Your thoughts please.

[trolley]

do you have room in the freezer? if so you can put the layers in the freezer and take them out tomorrow and frost. it's actually easier to frost layers when frozen. you just leave it out room temp after frosting and it defrosts pretty quickly. also are you pouring the ganache or making the kind you spread? either way frozen layers work really well. you can leave it out otherwise.

[escondido123]

I have it all in the frig--I think this is spreadable ganache. Freezer too full for anything. Will report back over the weekend, if it goes well will pass on link to recipe that has crazy high numbers at Epicurious. Thanks to all for quick response!

[escondido123]

Well, I warmed up the ganache until spreadable/pourable and did a crumb coat on the cold cake, put it all back in the frig and once it was hard did the final coat. Had the right amount of ganache and it looks beautiful. (We also had to trim a little so got to taste the cake--wonderful). If anyone is interested in the recipe, it is here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo.... It specifies two 10" pans, I used 3 8" and had three perfect layers. The trick is not to overcook, it goes from way underdone to done pretty quickly.

[Jay F]

I generally prefer day-old cake.

[Becca Porter]

It will be totally fine. Perhaps even better...some cakes are.

[amyzan]

I would make the ganache tomorrow morning and pour it over then. It will have more sheen and be fresher tasting if you wait. Alternatively, you could make the ganache tonight and press plastic wrap to it in the bowl, then warm and rebeat it before pouring over the cake tomorrow. If you have room to refrigerate wrapped cake layers overnight, the ganache will set more quickly over a cold cake. But, do let the cake come to room temperature before serving, for best flavor.

[escondido123]

I made the ganache and put it in the frig along with the cake layers wrapped in plastic wrap. My plan is to heat up the ganache when I get home about 5pm, frost the cakes and then leave it out. How does that sound?

[amyzan]

Sounds like a plan to me! Let us know how it turns out...