The question of whether you can put wafer paper in the fridge or not isn’t always answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” The wafer paper might be fine when it’s in the fridge, then suffer when it comes out.
The key is the humidity, both in and out of the fridge. And just because you CAN refrigerate it, it doesn’t mean that you SHOULD.
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Can you put wafer paper in the fridge?
Cakes that are decorated with wafer paper can be stored in a home refrigerator overnight or longer if the humidity levels in the fridge are low enough, and if removed from the fridge in a way that avoids condensation.
Because cold air holds less moisture than hot air, and home refrigerators are designed to draw humidity out of the air inside of them, the wafer paper will be fine on the cake as long as it stays inside the refrigerator.
However, when the decorated cake or cupcakes are removed from the refrigerator, they run the risk of developing condensation, especially if the outside air is very humid. This can damage the wafer paper.
Relative humidity is a measurement of how much moisture is in the air compared to how cold the air is. Because warm air holds a lot more moisture than cold air, 50% humidity at 40 degrees (a normal refrigerator temperature) is a lot less moisture than 50% humidity at 70 degrees (an average home temperature.)
The humidity inside a home refrigerator is usually lower than the air outside, so the wafer paper is generally being stored in drier air inside the fridge than it would be if it was sitting on the counter at room temperature.
When you remove the cake from the refrigerator, though, the humidity outside can cause condensation depending on how humid the air is.
Condensation is caused on surfaces when warm air that’s holding more moisture hits a cold surface. The moisture that’s in the warmer air in the form of vapor will change to a liquid as it cools, and that creates water droplets on the colder surface.
It’s like when steam from the shower hits a cold bathroom mirror and forms condensation, but in this case it would be the surface of the cake that would have the water forming on it.
What about outdoor humidity?
Depending on the level of humidity in the air outside, the wafer paper can be affected if a lot of condensation forms on the surface of the cake. If that happens, the paper can absorb the moisture.
In extreme cases, the paper can totally dissolve and stick onto the surface of the cake. If the paper is a flat edible image that covers the top of a sheet cake, this can also create wrinkles and bubbles on the surface if too much water is absorbed into the paper.
On a dry day in the winter when there’s very little humidity, the wafer paper might not be affected at all as the cake warms up to room temperature. On a summer day when the humidity is higher, the wafer paper could be totally destroyed.
This cake with wafer paper butterflies looked perfect after 3 days in the fridge. None of the butterflies were wilted or sagging from absorbing any moisture at all.
The dry air in the fridge kept them from getting wet, so refrigeration didn’t affect how they looked at all. The cake had been refrigerated without a box, so the air had been able to circulate around it.
What happens to the wafer paper when the cake develops condensation?
When a cake is removed from the fridge, the warmer air is going to create condensation on the first cold surface that it touches. If the cake isn’t in a box, the iced surface of the cake will be where the condensation forms.
Boxed cakes will have a barrier to the warmer air, and condensation will form on the surface of the box instead of on the icing. This can help to prevent moisture forming directly on the icing, but it’s not a guarantee of preventing damage.
Since I wanted to see what would happen to the cake if it warmed up quickly in a humid environment, I took drastic action and put it outside on a covered porch on a rainy day.
The air temperature was about 35 degrees warmer than inside the refrigerator, and I knew that the misty atmosphere would provide immediate humidity to test the butterflies right away. And boy, was it a dramatic change.
The pictures above show the butterflies on the cake as they looked after three days in the fridge. Perfectly fine, no problems, still in good shape.
Extreme outdoor humidity.
The dry air inside the fridge was perfect for preserving them, but the wetter air outside was not as kind. If you’d like to see a time-lapse video of what happened, watch this video that I did as the humid air destroyed them:
The humid air outside the house was an extreme change, clearly, and it’s not a normal situation.
But I wanted to show how humidity can really affect a cake. In this case some actual moisture got onto the back side of it, when the rain blew onto the cake (oops), but the front that wasn’t in the line of the rain was also melted.
The pink butterfly on the top that looks like half a wing is the one that was standing up in the first photos. The humidity made it fold up and collapse…The butterflies on the right side of the cake did NOT get any actual rain on them, but they still ended up melted against the cake.
This was definitely a trial by fire (or rain) and the wafer paper butterflies were no match for the extreme change from dry fridge air to wet outside air.
What about a commercial fridge?
Commercial refrigerators tend to be a lot more humid than home fridges, especially the walk-in type fridge that you find in restaurants. The humidity in those is kept higher to prevent vegetables and other perishables from drying out.
It’s the same principle as the grocery store using a mister in the produce section to keep the vegetables fresh.
The higher humidity in those fridges run a much greater risk of melting wafer paper decorations, so I would NOT recommend putting cakes decorated with wafer paper in a commercial fridge.
If you have wafer paper decorations that you bought and will be giving to your baker to place on a wedding cake, for example, you should specify that they shouldn’t be put on a cold cake or one that will be refrigerated.
This might be a problem for some bakers, because many of them don’t have time to decorate a cake at the venue, even though wafer paper decorations don’t take long to apply.
Make sure to check with your decorator if you expect them to apply any kind of decorations to a cake to make sure that they know how to handle them.
I’ve had customers say that their decorators ruined the wafer paper by putting them in a high-humidity fridge, so not everyone knows how to handle it.
So SHOULD you refrigerate wafer paper or not?
I would say that this is an example of just because you CAN do something, it doesn’t mean that you SHOULD do it.
I know that wafer paper will be okay (sometimes) if you refrigerate it then remove it from the fridge, but other times, it might not, and that will be a dramatic, no-way-back situation. Wafer paper that has absorbed water can’t be saved.
If you have to refrigerate the cake, put it in a box so that it can be removed from the fridge in the box and left in the box to warm up. This will slow the formation of any condensation on the surface of the cake, but it’s not a foolproof way to guarantee that none will form.
Also, a box that’s totally sealed, like a plastic cake carrier, can form its own microclimate like a little terrarium inside the sealed box, and the moisture inside can actually damage the wafer paper too! So boxing the cake isn’t a promise that you’ll totally avoid moisture on the cake.
Even if you don’t refrigerate the cake, decorating it ahead of time can be risky if it’s a humid time of the year. Condensation isn’t the only way that wafer paper absorbs water, it can pick up moisture from the air, too.
So if it’s a humid time of the year, the wafer paper can sag and wilt simply from being in the humid room temperature air.
My recommendation is to put your wafer paper decorations on your cake shortly before your party begins, and when the cake is at room temperature. This will prevent any problems (unless you’re having an outdoor party on a foggy day.)
It only takes a few minutes to decorate a cake using wafer paper, so why chance it?
If you have everything ready to go and put the decorations on 15 minutes before your guests are scheduled to arrive, the wafer paper won’t have enough time on the cake to absorb any moisture, and you won’t have to worry about whether your decorations will melt or not. It’s just safer, and it will avoid any problems that could ruin your decorations!
