This Is The Right Way To Store Your Custom Costco Cakes

Costco isn't just a great store for its low-priced, high-quality Kirkland brand products or iconic food court items. The Costco bakery cranks out freshly baked cakes customized to your taste and aesthetic. And they're as affordable as they are delicious, with a satisfaction guaranteed or your money back policy to boot! Since the professional bakers and cake decorators will put care and artistry into the cake you design, all that effort shouldn't go to waste due to improper storage.

Custom Costco cakes are made fresh to order, and like any freshly baked cake, they have a limited shelf life. Unless you're going to eat the cake within an hour of buying it, you'll need to store it in the fridge. A cake will stay fresh in the fridge for between three days and a week. However, if you want the best taste and texture, you should plan on serving the cake the day you pick it up from Costco, so that it only sits for a few hours before you take it out.

If you want to buy a Costco cake more than a few days ahead of time, you should freeze the cake. To prevent freezer burn, wrap the cake thoroughly in plastic cling wrap, then aluminum foil before freezing it. When you're ready to eat it, it'll only take two or three hours to thaw at room temperature. You could also let it thaw more slowly in the fridge over the span of a six to eight hours.

If you have any leftover cake, the same wrapping protocol applies. You can freeze leftover cake for a few months before the quality starts to degrade. 

Costco's policy for custom cakes requires in-person ordering at the bakery department by filling out a paper form with an easy-to-follow check-box format. The form specifies that you need to order a cake with at least one day of anticipation, but custom cakes can take up to three days to make. Costco offers different types and sizes of custom cakes ranging from a giant sheet cake for around $40 to a small eight-inch round cake for $16. The bakery will even make multi-tiered wedding cakes! The sheet cakes come in vanilla and chocolate-flavored crumbs and are layered with chocolate or vanilla mousse and iced with chocolate or vanilla buttercream. Smaller eight- and 10-inch round cakes expand flavors to include carrot cake, cheesecake, and tuxedo cakes.

Not only can you customize the flavor and size of your cake, but Costco provides numerous images, designs, and customizable phrases to celebrate the specific occasion and person in question. If you find yourself too short on time to order a custom cake, Costco's bakery sets out freshly baked sweet treats daily that you can customize yourself. For instance, you could buy four or five plain cheesecakes at the bakery, then load up on canned fruit, nuts, candy, and syrups to create a customizable cake station for your guests.