Why did my cake start molding after only a week spent in the refrigerator?!
Why did my cake start molding after only a week spent in the refrigerator?
Answers:
If it was homemade it did not have all the additives and preservatives that commercial bakery items usually do. A week should be as long as you keep most foods in the fridge anyway. Except for condiments, cheese and a few other exceptions.
You left out some pertinent information, like the type of cake, and the container (if any) the cake was being stored in.
After just one week, I can understand cake or other baked goods getting dried out, but not moldy! My guess is, your refrigerator is running a little too warm. If the average temperature inside it is in excess of about 45 degrees F, mold (bacteria and other pathogens) can survive. It would still feel pretty cold if you stick your hand in there, but for safety's sake (and to preserve your food), find a reliable thermometer and check it.
because it was getting old
Because you left it in the fridge for a week.
Yes - I agree with the others. There may be another reason - something else is also spoiling/moldy also. Clean your frig.
Your house or apartment IS not clean.
Your refrigerator included.
The mold and their friends may have been, in the ingredients.
Most cake mixes are packed in plastic bags and store for a year or more.
Clean ,clean, clean hey repaint vacume
Mold spores are in the air everywhere and settle on everything 24 hours a day 7 days a week. What determines if things start to mold is the environment the spores find themselves in. For example, something left out in a warm humid environment (like your kitchen) will start to grow mold sooner than the same thing in a cool dry environment (sealed in a container in the fridge). Most store bought items contain preservatives, aka mold inhibitors. Your scratch cake does not, so the two placed side by side in the same environment, their cake will take much longer to start growing mold. In your refrigerator, I suspect it is too warm. Someone else already mentioned the pivot point of 45 degrees F. Get a reliable thermometer and twist down the refrigerator control until it maintains around 40 degrees F on a middle shelf. The further below 45 degrees F, the longer it will take for mold to grow, with it stopping entirely if you go down to 10 degrees above zero, i.e., a deep freeze. By the way, from personal experience, a piece of fresh baked home made bread starts to grow mold in 3-4 days if left in the open. Several pieces of left over pizza left in a sealed plastic tupperware container at 40 degrees, is still looking good after two weeks in my fridge, as least it doesn't look like anything is growing yet...
Other people have said that you must have something else molding. Not true, mold spores are so small, they drift like smoke which is why they fall on everything all of the time. If something is in the process of growing mold, then there will be additional spores, but it is the environment they come in contact with which determines IF they start to grow, not how many spores per cubic meter. Whether your house is cleaner than Martha Stewart's or grimier than a city sidewalk, makes no difference to the spores falling on your cake.
If you reporting it here, it must have been full of butter and delicious......sorry bout ur cake love.......just make another....