Keep It Cool

• Iced cakes that have a stable frosting from a can stay safe in your pantry for two to four days. But if you've made the frosting yourself, using butter, fresh eggs or milk, refrigerate the cake within two hours of making it and plan on keeping it in the refrigerator for up to four days. Refrigerate the cake within two hours of icing it, or preferably, immediately after making it.

All Cakes Are Not Equal

• If your icing contains certain dairy products, you need to be especially careful. Icings made with fresh eggs, such as seven-minute frosting, and those with cream cheese, butter, whipped cream or custard, all need to be refrigerated within two hours of frosting. They will remain safe in the fridge for up to three days. Cakes with whipped cream are especially fragile, because the cream lose its fluffiness and separates within a day, turning your cake soggy.

Time for Dessert

• Both the cake and icing become firm in the fridge, and may not taste as good because your taste buds are less receptive to cold food than room temperature or warm food. Take the cake out to sit at room temperature for an hour before serving so it warms up slightly but is still within the safe two-hour serving period.

Why It Matters

• Harmful and harmless bacteria exist everywhere, but they multiply rapidly in some foods and at room temperature. For example, more than 2,300 types of Salmonella bacteria grow in foods, not to mention thousands of other types of bacteria. If your refrigerator is set to at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, the bacteria multiply much more slowly and become almost dormant, reducing your risk of getting sick.