Cupcake Tip #1: Keeping Cupcakes Fresh
By harrisonca on May 11th, 2009 . Filed under: Tips .
Many of our readers are already pros at whipping up batches of cupcakes for any occasion; however, I would bet that some of you out there may still be learning all the tips and tricks. If you find this post helpful, please comment, and I will continue to share tips.
Cupcake Tip #1: Keeping Cupcakes Fresh
If you want to keep your cupcakes fresh and soft DO NOT put them in the refrigerator, it will dry them out. You may put the unfrosted cupcakes in a container and wrap container in saran wrap to freeze them.
Then if you need to whip up a quick snack, take out the frozen cupcakes, and immediately start frosting and decorating. When done, place on a plate in room temperature for an hour or two to thaw. Tastes just like fresh cupcakes.
May 11th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Thanks for the tip, I’d love to see more tips on here, I love cupcakes and I LOVE this site! I’ve only been making cupcakes for like every occasion for about a year now, so I love learning new things!
May 11th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
VERY INTERESTING!!!!! Thanks for the tip!!! Please continue to post more.
May 12th, 2009 at 1:59 am
Thank you for the tip! I’m usually eating the cupcakes but this past year I’ve developed quite a cupcake making stash. It would be very helpful to get a few tips and tricks for a cupcake newbie like myself.
May 12th, 2009 at 2:36 am
I have never tried freezing my cupcakes but am interested in seeing what will happen. I find that cupcakes keep best when stored in an airtight container and left on the counter in a cool kitchen – good for 2-3 days if there is no cream filling/frosting. I use mostly buttercreams and the high sugar content keeps the butter from going bad.
When I have an early morning order, I make the cupcakes the night before and store them unfrosted in my cupcake courier – which also has an airtight seal. They are moist and fresh the next day.
May 12th, 2009 at 5:07 am
I’m always surprised when people refrigerate cakes & cupcakes! I notice this at a lot of restaurants! It totally dries cake out & I don’t like cold cake!
May 12th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Thank you so much for the tip. :D I’ve been doing a little bit of reading on the best ways to store cupcakes. Please give some more tips in the future :D Especially on how to store cupcakes that are already frosted.
May 12th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Thank you for the tips. I’m very new at baking cupcakes, and I often wonder if I should frost or not frost. A good idea for another tip is to explain what kind of frostings can be left out at room temperature and which ones need refrigeration. I never know what to do…buttercream has butter, but it’s often not refrigerated. Why is that? Is sugar really some sort of preservative for butter?
May 12th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
I love your site and I do enjoy your tips. Thanks for sharing them.
June 5th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
I did know this about not refrigerating them. I can not stand when ppl do this. I keep mine stored on the counter or in the pantry. I love them. I have been making them quite consistently for some time now.
January 12th, 2010 at 7:53 am
Yes – please PLEASE post more. I am a cupcake novice and found this site cause I wanted to know how to keep the cupcakes for my 1 year old’s party fresh and found your tip extremly helpful. I’m hopeing for more! : )
May 12th, 2010 at 8:40 am
Im getting ready for a large order, 200 cupcakes I don’t have much room in my kitchen. How much in advance should I prepare them so they will be fresh.
June 9th, 2010 at 7:48 am
I’ve found that keeping cupcakes or any kind of baked dessert fully decorated in a cookie can on the counter at room temperature keeps them moist and fresh!
Or, maybe my family just eats them too fast for them to get stale. ^_^
July 13th, 2010 at 1:19 am
Thanks for the tip! I’m about to make a dozen cupcakes, but there are only 2 of us at home so I wasn’t sure how to store them. Wish me luck as this will be my first time to bake cupcakes and I really hope it works out!
September 14th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
[…] you’re keeping them for longer, check out this tip on keeping cupcakes fresh from […]
October 22nd, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Thank you for the freshness tip. I made my first batch of like, 18 cupcakes! And wasn’t sure how to keep them all fresh!
October 29th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Thank you for the tip!! I’ve always wondered how to keep them fresh when making them ahead of time.
January 3rd, 2011 at 11:02 pm
Im so glad I found this page! I just made a dozen cupcakes and decorated with icing…. I need to take them to a dinner party tomorrow night and was about to refrigerate them to keep fresh! Thanks for all the tips! I know now not to put in fridge :)
February 28th, 2011 at 2:19 pm
I’m about to make 300 cupcakes for a wedding reception. Do I bake and frost and then freeze them, or do I bake and frost when I get to the destination (not sure where that will be?)
April 22nd, 2011 at 1:54 am
What about the frosting? Should you also freeze that as well?
May 2nd, 2011 at 9:26 pm
I am baking 200 cupcakes for a wedding reception. The wedding is at 1pm on a saturday what is best option to keep fresh overnight? Do I freeze them and then frost the next day? Also can you make the frostings a day ahead of time and place in the fridge overnight? or is it best to do the morning of?
May 6th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
i am making a cupcake for mother’s day so will my cupcake will be ruined if i put it in the fridge for three days?
PS: my cupcake has frosting and decoration on it?
June 6th, 2011 at 3:28 pm
If you are doing a large number of cupcakes, I would bake them ahead of time (at your leisure) then freeze, I can fit a dozen in a gallon ziplock. I like to frost them the day of the event. One of the reasons is that I love using cream cheese in my frosting and I think it is best not to let the frosting sit out more than 12 hours (I do it for my own family..iron stomachs…but I wouldn’t want it to be a health risk to another).
June 16th, 2011 at 9:41 am
I am just starting out and have a large order due tomorrow. I was going to start baking to night and did not know how to store them over night. Thank you so much for the help. Please – keep giving tips. :)
Thank you
July 15th, 2011 at 9:30 am
Fantastic! Thanks
July 16th, 2011 at 11:44 pm
Can I make my frosting the night before and refrigerate it over night, so i can frost mid day?
July 28th, 2011 at 3:34 pm
I have just started making cupcakes , found this a great tip , keep them comming please :) x
July 29th, 2011 at 4:36 am
First time making cupcakes. I just made 20 chocolate sour cream cupcakes tonight very good and frosted half of them with Pillsbury frosting than stopped because I was unsure how long they will last frosted if I store them in a zip lock container. I also stored the unfrosted ones in the same zip lock container. And have left the zip lock container on the counter it appears to be tightly sealed. They are for a party on Saturday afternoon. Will the cupcakes frosted and not frosted be okay for Saturday if I leave them out?
August 11th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
I have a small cupcake business in NY…In my experience, when I’ve tried to freeze cupcakes, the cake becomes sticky when thawed and the paper is soggy…it just falls off…yuck
October 10th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
A very great tip! Please keep posting more! These are VERY useful!
November 16th, 2011 at 2:37 am
I have just had an order for 1000 cupcakes do I freeze? or any other ideas for this size order.
Thanks for the website, great to share ideas
February 9th, 2012 at 3:50 am
thanks .. its helpful .but i would like to know if we can do the same with frosted cupcakes. especially those with buttercream of cream cheese frosting .
March 8th, 2012 at 11:17 pm
I LOVE this site and appreciate all the comments and tips. Definitely experienced the soggy cupcakes from freezing them, and it was icky. Knowing I can make them 24 hrs early and just frost that morning helps a lot. ty ty ty
March 15th, 2012 at 10:22 pm
Thanks for the helpful tips….great website!
March 29th, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Thank you so much for this tip! I found a reply for this question on a yahoo questions site (or something like that) but I didn’t like the other answer. When I saw that this site is specifically for cupcakes, I WAS SOLD! Thank you again!!!
May 20th, 2012 at 10:09 pm
I am trying this tonight for Tuesday. I really hope it works since these cupcakes are for my teachers!! Wish me luck!!! On Tuesday, I will re-post a message to say how it turned out!
June 7th, 2012 at 3:34 pm
hi – we just frosted and sprinkled 550 cupcakes for a school function tomorrow – we don’t want the sprinkles to bleed, how should we store these?
July 22nd, 2012 at 9:55 pm
I have 200 cupcakes to make for a party. I’ve always frozen them and then frosted the night before or day of (depending on the time of the event). Is it better to make them the day before and decorate and then sit covered in a box overnight or does it matter? Please help…thank you.
August 1st, 2012 at 7:36 pm
Help! just made sesame street cupcakes (wed night) for a Fri night party. I googled to see how to store them and if they would be ok. I see posts thanking for the info but could not find the actual answer!! If I did them too soon it is too late to change that but what do I do to keep them for Fri. It is hot and humid in the house.
August 4th, 2012 at 11:05 pm
I usually store unfrosted cupcakes in an airtight container overnight without frosting. They do stay fresh and moist from inside the next day but they become sticky and “wet” from outside. How do I prevent this from happening?
August 23rd, 2012 at 3:06 pm
When I have a large number of cupcakes to bake (200) I bake small batches in my free time then freeze them. They ate fine once defrosted. Have no issues or complaints. I then will make a large batch of butter icing a day or to before as it can be kept no longer than 2 weeks in an air tight container in the fridge. Morning of the event the cakes are needed for out the freezer the cakes come and ice leaving to defrost with icing on :-) yum yum
September 18th, 2012 at 8:14 am
Thank you for the tips!!
What about preserving frosted cupcakes?
I usually prepare a lot of cupcakes to sell during the weekend and all the cupcakes not sold are “lost” because I do not dare to sell them on the next weekend as they are not as fresh.
I also heard that they can´t be freezed with the frosting.
I usually frost them with buttercream, swiss meringue buttercream, dulce de leche or fondant.
Can anyone help me with that?
Thank you!
October 31st, 2012 at 5:06 am
R u people serious? Don’t freeze your cupcakes! Fer crying out leoud! The lady that frickin owns a bakery in NY ALREADY SAID along time ago! Lol and to the person that oh never mind your a all beautiful people!
January 23rd, 2013 at 6:22 pm
Hi,
My daughters birthday party is on Saturday at 3pm.
Can i make vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting on Friday morning at 12 noon and store them in a airtight container?
Will the frosting and cupcakes be soft and fresh.
Thanks
Prathyusha
February 2nd, 2013 at 7:33 pm
Okay someone needs to answer the question that everyone seems to be asking:
How do we store frosted cupcakes, how long will they be fresh for, and how will they taste????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
February 3rd, 2013 at 7:16 pm
I believe the rule of thumb is cupcakes last 2 days in an air tight container, way from heat and sunlight. Some suggest placing cupcakes in the refrigerator and allowing them to come to room temperature before serving. I’ve had two day old cupcakes and thought they tasted fine but if they are not stored in something air tight they don’t taste very good.
February 8th, 2013 at 6:58 am
I am now totally confused with all the conflicting info…so is the concensus to freeze or refrigerate without changing texture or taste of cupcake? LOL.
March 20th, 2013 at 2:46 pm
I’m not completely new to baking. but i did put some cupcakes in the fridge a long time ago. And they turned out ok. I would love to be emailed any tips.
April 13th, 2013 at 9:50 pm
Thanks for the tip! I am baking cupcakes tonight for my boyfriend, and I was hoping there was a way to keep them fresh overnight!
April 20th, 2013 at 5:56 am
I’ve just recently started up a little business baking cupcakes from home and I’m wondering the same thing, how far in advance do I make a large order and his long will they stay fresh for? ??