Here’s a reminder from the pros at www.seriouseats.com that came in today: There’s an overlooked step that can make or break your cake-baking efforts. And it happens to be the #1 mistake home bakers make on a regular basis.

Can you guess? It’s cutting into a cake too soon. Why’s this such a big deal? Genevieve Yam, Serious Eats Senior Food Editor, explains that a cake needs time to COMPLETELY cool. This is an essential step that allows the cake's structure to fully set.

Rose Levy Beranbaum, baking expert and author of THE CAKE BIBLE, says, "When a cake bakes, expanding gas from steam and leavening enlarges the air bubbles trapped in the fat during the mixing process…the bubbles expand until the surrounding cell walls rupture, the flour and egg proteins coagulate, and the flour's starch gelatinizes to set the structure."

The simple science is this: When a cake is fresh out of the oven, those fats, proteins, and starches haven't had time to set. If you slice into it or unmold it too soon, its structure will likely collapse. The one exception to this cake law is with molten chocolate cake, because this cake is supposed to be ooey-gooey. 

But for layer cakes, stacking is difficult to impossible if you don’t let the layers completely cool. That's why so many recipes recommend letting your cake cool in the pan for 10 to 30 minutes before inverting it onto a wire rack to CONTINUE cooling. (Note: The exact timing depends on the kind of cake you're making.)

And when Genevieve warns us to let a cake COMPLETELY cool, she means cool all the way to its center. In other words, when making a cake, avoid avoid avoid the sentiment that it’s “cool enough.” No matter how pressed for time we may be—we must wait! She says our patience and restraint will be rewarded.

Another reason cakes should be allowed to come to room temperature before digging in: It's much easier to decorate when cool. Even the best recipe can't save a cake that's been rushed. “So cool it—literally,” Genevieve advises.

This is good advice, on several levels. Don’t we all want to do things a little better with every passing year? As 2026 is now here, I think “cooling it” (cake-wise and other-wise) is probably a good way to approach life. So, let’s raise a glass to a completely cooled cake and “cooling it” in other appropriate ways. Happy New Year everyone!