I’m a novice baker, and I’ve been practicing genoise for my son’s 1st birthday.  I want to make a 3-layered cake with genoise and whipped cream.

I follow the classic genoise recipe from the cake bible, and have searched the forum, but couldn’t find the answer to my question -

So we’re supposed to bake the cake, cool, cut and then syrup before assembling the cake.  If I want to cool it 15-24 hours before cutting, do I leave it uncovered in room temperature, or do I wrap it and refrigerate it after the initial cooling (by initial cooling I mean when the cake reached room temperature, after a few hours)?

Thanks in advance!

I’d wrap it in plastic no matter what, but I think they’d be fine in the fridge or on the counter for one night.

Correct!  Definitely wrap it.  I made that mistake once.  Doesn’t matter if it is in the fridge or not for one or 2 days…once you syrup and layer it with whipped cream it will be very very moist.

Good luck!