Our Best Dessert Recipes & Ideas

If you’re anything like me, baking and assembling a frosted cake is one of the truest tests of my patience. You see, I am not a patient person, and as soon as I take my cake layers out of the oven, I want to frost them immediately. I am overly eager to see the final results and cut myself a thick slice — and can you blame me? — but it’s important to stick those layers in the refrigerator for a bit before frosting. Here’s why.

While I love baking, living in New York City means I don’t have a lot of storage space — especially in the kitchen. The baking shelf in my pantry is stocked very simply with basics and essentials. While I’d love to keep things like cake flour on hand, it just isn’t practical since I don’t use it on a regular basis. Instead I have room for one bulky sack of all-purpose flour.

What do you do when you pull out the container of brown sugar and it’s a perfectly formed, rock-hard brick? This happened to me the other day, which sent me on the hunt for some effective solutions. Here’s one that worked in a matter of minutes. If you have time to spare, putting a slice of bread or some apple slices on top of the sugar, sealing it up, and letting it sit for a day are a couple hands-off ways to soften brown sugar.

Fact: Most cakes do not need to be refrigerated.