I have 2 cakes in the oven.. then i realized that the cooling rack is not big enough for 2! and i only have 1 cooling rack!

what can i do??
thanks

After the regular "cool time" in pan invert it directly onto your cakeboard and allow to cool completely. I never cool a large cake on a cooling rack, too much risk. Baking Blessings, Shawn <><

Spread a large towel on your dining room table. Once the cakes have cooled flip your cake onto the towel. Once the pan lifts off the cake I usually place the pan back on the cake for safety until I'm ready to use it.

When your ready to place your cakes on a cake board you can turn the cake back over in the pan by lifting the towel around the cake. Very easy!

One thing I've done when I've run out of cooling racks is to use one rack to flip out the cake and then flip it back into the pan. This makes sure it doesn't stick and it cools in the pan just fine. If I'm in a hurry, I slide the pans into the fridge or freezer to cool. If you freeze a cake this way, you need to run hot water over the bottom of the pan to release the cake.

Yes, there never does seem to be enough cooling racks, does there? You actually need about 4 of the huge ones, the ones Wilton makes for cookies and 4 smaller ones and 4 midsize would be nice in a perfect world.
I have flipped the cake onto the cake board too, many times too, to cool or just just them for flipping the ake onto a cooling rack. But there really is a difference when you cool your cakes on cooling racks that are properly elevated, until you do it you may not notice it. You don't get the soggy bottom because the steam has been allowed to come out naturally. When you refridgerate or freeze an uncooled cake, well you will have some effect on the cake texture for one thing. Also by putting a hot cake in a fridge or freezer, you are compromising the safety of the other items in the fridge or freezer by raising the temperature. I am not sure if you meant that you do this as soom as the cake comes out of the pan or not.
You should never wrap a cake while it is still warm either. This can give you a rubbery texture.
Sometimes flipping the hot cake onto your cake board to cool completely can result in a warped cake board once the cake is cooled so that is something to watch for, it is more common with a sheet cake than it is an issue with a round or square cake.
Some people have broiling pans that have a cover with holes in it. These are big enough to be used in a pinch and the fact there are holes in the lid allows some escape of moisture.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

"Sometimes flipping the hot cake onto your cake board to cool completely can result in a warped cake board once the cake is cooled so that is something to watch for, it is more common with a sheet cake than it is an issue with a round or square cake."

Thank you, Squirrelly, I just recently had a warped cakeboard and wondered what had happened to it! I had thought it happened because I didn't store my boards flat enough, but this has to be it! Janice

Haha, actually kiddo, I am a real stickler for letting cakes cool at their own pace.
In commercial baking courses and such, the texture of the outside of a cake is as important as the texture of the inside of the cake and appearance and texture are an important part of this chemical process we call baking. I have some commercial baking knowledge.
But the sticking cakes while hot in the fridge or freezer, is a big food safety issue. I also have some food safety and freezer safety knowledge. Actually it has come up on the Wilton site where a couple of ladies that had as they called it, "real businesses" were doing this because they said it made for a moister cake. It actually is a food safety issue. Not only that, but there is no way that you can make a cake more moist than it was to begin with. What you can do by freezing a cooled cake, is actually make a cake that is a bit hard in spots on the outer edges a bit softer and this has to do with how the condensation from freezing works.
But by putting something hot and a cake is still steaming hot after it comes out of a pan, particularly the larger cakes, into a refridgerator or freezer the amount of heat that this item gives off can raise the inside temperature of these appliances considerably. Obviously the larger the surface and the more layers of cakes you do this with, the more effect there is. It is even more of an issue with a Frost Free appliance as the temperature of these appliances has more of a fluctuation point. If you think about putting say two 14 inch three inch deep layers into a fridge or freezer, well you can imagine how much heat is given off.
It actually does affect the texture just as the texture of a cake is affected when it is wrapped before it is cooled. It affects it because of the way the condensation or steam from the middle of the cake is trapped. Now this affect may not be a big deal with some cakes, but it is with others. Generally the effect is a very moist outside. It tends to make for a more rubbery inside. Generally most butter cakes for example, should not be refridgerated as this process is known to dry them out and shrten the shelf life.
When you freeze a completely cooled cake and thaw it out in its original wraps, usually a plastic wrap, well what happens is that first of all in the freezing process, the moisture from the middle of the cake becomes the condensation on the outer edges of the cake. When it thaws in its wrapper, this condensation is absorbed back into the centre of the cake and not just evaporated into the air.
Freezing a cake with a simple syrup glaze or apricot glaze, further insures trapping in the moisture. Putting the simple syrup of apricot glaze hot, on the cake while it is still warm, further insures trapping in the moisture to the exposed area of the cake while it cools while still ensuring that the steam does disperse from the bottom of the cake. Another method some commercial bakers use is to completely coat the cake with fine sugar prior to freezing. Now this traps in the moisture and actually adds moisture to the cake. It adds moisture because of the effect of the condensation and the freezing process on the sugar, in effect breaking down the sugar somewhat and causing this moisture to be absorbed into the cake.
Anything you do to a still hot cake has some effect on the texture of the cake, whether it is an issue to you or not, it does happen. Just as people smoosh or press down on a cake crown to level their cakes, this does has an effect on the cake texture and density as the cake itself is being compressed to some degree.
Now an angel food cake and certain other cakes, these cakes are baked with no grease on the pan and this is because the eggs are the main leavening or rising agent. So to allow the eggs to do their thing and also to allow the cake to support itself on the sides of the pan, while it rises, no grease is used on the pan. Because of this, the cake must be cooled in the pan. To allow the cake to cool in the pan and still have that light airy texture and not a more dense texture which is generally the effect of cooling a cake completely in the pan, well you invert your pan over a funnel or wine bottle. This allows the cake bottom to detach itself from the tin bottom and also stops the cake from compacting as it cools.
Now for some of the 3D cake pans, you cool the cake completely in the pans or for a very long time with either one or both sides of the cake pan still attached. Not only does this help you get the cake out of the pan in one piece, but bear in mind that you are generally making a more dense type of cake in these pans, to allow it to hold up because of the 3D nature. So adding a bit of density to the cake because of the cooling process, in this case, is a good thing.
Incidentally, I am not pulling this information out of the air, it is from baking chemistry and proceedures manuals and freezer safety sites, I have researched this a fair amount.
Hope that helps,
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

I always use an oven rack. I kept one from an old oven, and when I need an extra one I use another one from the oven since I only use one rack anyway, they don"t cook very even when I put one on the other rack too. Marilyn

Good one Marilyn, I have a convection oven, but I don't like the way cakes bake when it is on convection, so I just bake on regular. It has three racks and I remove the other two when I am baking, because, like you, I prefer the results when there is only one rack of cakes. But you know, I must be denser than my cakes, because I never thought of using the racks to cool a cake on, but that is a good idea!
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Mom of three just check them out after they defrost and make sure you defrost them on a level surface.
One of my old cake pals has a habit of icing a cake and freezing it well wrapped. She uses the all shortening based icing with the water. Well her boards warped and because of that it caused the icing to crack. But an uniced cake on a warped board can also cause icing cracking issues. Just something to keep your eyes out for.
But seriously the worst offenders are the large rectangular cakes on boards.
And it is only an issue about 40 to 50 percent of the time with these. I used to always freeze my cakes boarded, but I don't anymore because of this possibility.
I too wrap them in plastic wrap and foil and then place the whole thing in a green garbage bag, unscented of course, haha!
Now I freeze them minus the boards, wrapped the same way but on either a sheet of plexiglass or a good level cookie sheet after they are wrapped.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

That was a good tip Marilyn! I have 2 ovens, one is small & will bearly fit a cookie sheet in it. I got a 2nd oven about 2 months ago. I don't use the small one to bake with.

Now that you gave that tip I will use the racks! I usually don't use cooling racks eventhough I have them. I'll try this & see how it works. Thanks for that great tip!

Ute,
I have frozen my cakes on cake boards before & they were fine. I wouldn't worry. I do use new boards after the cakes are thawed. Just to make sure the boards are dry. The wedding is this weekend? Wow! That came fast didn't it! Good luck!

Hey Turtlelady, that is what I meant, it is usually a good idea to use new boards afterwards, because the freezing thawing cycle can cause issues.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes