This will be the first time that I do a cake for a "real event" (my sister's best friend's bridal shower). It will be a 2-tier stacked cake covered in fondant. The shower is on a Saturday at 1pm. I am trying to plan my schedule for the days before so I am prepared, but I am unsure of how far in advance things should be done. I want the cake itself to taste as fresh as possible, but I also know leaving it to the last minute could be a disaster. Any pros want to provide me some direction?

Also, any recommendations for brands of cake pans? I will need to buy a 10" and 6".

I bake on either tuesday or wednesday night and freeze. I'll make icing and ice and do most of the decorating on friday night then finish up if I havent already on saturday morning for a saturday afternoon event.

Any fondant/gumpaste decorations are done earlier in the week to allow for drying time.

Hi chelley325, I am not a business, but I have done wedding and shower cakes for friends/family.

For something like this, I would bake on Thursday. Friday I would ice, stack, cover with fondant, and decorate. Saturday ~ deliver!... As long as you do not use a fresh-fruit (perishable) filling, the cake does not have to be refrigerated.

This is a great question, and I'm sure you'll get lots of advice from the "experts"!

Hi!

I am a part-time cake decorator. During the daytime (7 am - 3:30 pm) I manage a small construction office, five days each week, so I have limited time travling to work round trip 70 miles. Here is what I do and you can get tips from a book by Dee William called Wedding Cakes You Can Bake on Amazon.

• 1. Timeline: The decorative pieces, e.g. flowers; syrup, and buttercream I make about a week ahead.
  2. On Friday I will bake, moisten cakes with syrup then crumb coat. Refrigerate the cakes (put in about 12 midnight).
  3. First thing in the morning I start decorating.
  

Depends on the distance you need to travel to set-up you may want to cover cake with fondant the night before. I usually work right through untill I'm done, the rest before going to setup cake.

Do hope this will help. But Dee Wilson has very good tips in her book for every cake she feature.

Cheers!

My IDEAL schedule is as follows:

Friday night (one week before): Bake, wrap securely in plastic wrap, foil and freeze

Sunday night: any gumpaste decorations, dye fondant

Friday night before: make filling while filling mixes cut & cover board, decorate, stick completed cake in box in fridge (the only place where I know it won't get damaged