Wondering if I can refrigerate cake batter to be used later? I am making a 6 inch teir and have extra batter. I only have one pan and need to bake in it twice. If I refrigerate the batter will my results stay normal?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe if you're using baking powder as your raising agent, you don't need to refrigerate, it can stay on the counter. Baking soda you'd need to refrigerate to retard the chemical reaction. Personally I put the batter in the fridge whether it has baking soda or not, but I know lots of people don't bother.

It soo depends on the recipe your using. If your batter uses eggs that you beat to high volume to incorporate air, the faster you use it, the better. At the other extreme I have a pound cake recipe that is almost indestructible. And then you have everything in the middle. Soooo it's back to it depends on the recipe you're using.

I ended up making a new batch just to be careful. I didn't want to waste it so I tried it out in a different pan and it worked just fine. I will be using the cake for an upcoming baby shower. I am so glad that it didn't go to waste.

According to chefs in England if baking a cake from scratch you need to use the batter immediately as it will lose the 'air' incorporated into the mixture if left for even a short length of time. Don't know about box mixes though!

CP

Sorry to hijack from the OP, but if I were to refrigerate the batter, do I have to let it come to room temp first before I put it in the oven?

Hi CP

I think traditionally cakes from England are often sponge(?), so that would certainly be true. My grandmother and mother are both confused when I talk about cake batter, and mixers etc, as they were always taught to make light and airy sponges.

I have done this with no problems, frozen it too. Just brought it to room temp again, gave it a quick mix and poured. Cakes turned out just fine. But I use a doctored cake mix, not scratch.

The last time I tried refridgerating batter, I found that the second batch ended up being hard/crusty on the top. it seemed ok in the middle; but I had to cut the crust off! Not very good for keeping even layers!