Keeping cake fresh while it's on display

January 22, 2009 7:11 PM

Problem: Cakes on display that go a bit stale where they've been cut. Solution: Plastic, hinged, see-through inserts that can be placed inside missing wedges to keep edges fresh.

I know they exist but probably just don't know the proper terminology because my searches (for cake keeper, cake saver) come up fruitless except for entire cake boxes with lids which is not what I seek.

I'd like to buy these to use in lieu of using throwaway wax paper.

Thanks guys!

posted by sarelicar to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

Like a pie dam? I haven't seen them for cake, but maybe the pie version will help you find them.
posted by catlet at 7:33 PM on January 22, 2009

I was coming to suggest something similar that I just saw on America's Test Kitchen. They called it a pie gate. I am not sure if it would be tall enough for a layer cake.
posted by bove at 7:36 PM on January 22, 2009

What about putting a clear glass cake cover over it?
posted by JujuB at 8:39 PM on January 22, 2009

Response by poster: maybe i should have clarified. these aren't sitting out in open air, then i would just buy a cover, but are becoming a bit stale under refrigeration/display after having been cut into.
posted by sarelicar at 9:21 PM on January 22, 2009

How about a DIY solution: cut two small rectangles of plexiglass (slightly larger than the radius and height of your average cake) and scotch tape them together at one edge.

This can make a wedge as small or as large as you need (tape side out for acute angles, tape side in for obtuse angles) and would display the cut edge well, too.

Easily washed, easily retaped for new cakes. I'm a genius!
posted by Aquaman at 9:47 PM on January 22, 2009

I think wax paper is compostable. That's one step up from sending it to a landfill although it does not address your question directly.

I think you can modify the pie gates/dams that bove and catlet suggest although I wonder whether they would be stable when ~half the cake is missing.

Does it have to have a hinge? Wouldn't two bowl scrapers or similar food-safe implements, placed where needed do the job? I've seen bowl scrapers big enough at restaurant supply stores.
posted by KevCed at 9:47 PM on January 22, 2009

how about the kake sav'r'?
posted by citystalk at 9:57 PM on January 22, 2009

Could you use a cut-down CD jewel case or something similar?
posted by pseudostrabismus at 11:07 PM on January 22, 2009

Not exactly what you asked for but I've been reading Shirley Corriher's Cookwise, which says that cakes made with sweeteners that contain fructose (honey, brown sugar), which is hygroscopic, don't dry out so easily. So maybe a recipe tweak could help?
posted by jon1270 at 2:26 AM on January 23, 2009

We have reusable waxed paper at work. I wish I knew where to get it. It looks like brown, waxed paper, but you can wash it and use it over and over. It can also be cut down to size without losing any of the paper's integrity, like I imagine would be the case if you cut down a Silpat.

I can second jon1270's advice about different sweeteners adding longevity to baked goods. We rarely use just sugar in our stuff. We use glucose and fructose and we gets lots of time before our goodies dry out.
posted by cooker girl at 8:07 AM on January 23, 2009

I´ve seen a non-hinged version of these in use. Two separate pieces of clear flexible plastic. No idea what they are called though.

Seems that an advantage of having two separate pieces would be that when a new slice is cut the exposed part which remains uncut would be less likely to get munged up by removing the plastic.
posted by yohko at 1:49 PM on January 23, 2009