About how long can you drag cake decorating out and still have an edible cake at the end? I am not counting freezing anything in a time line.

But say you bake, crumb coat and get a layer of icing on a cake.... about how long do you have to decorate a cake after that and still have a great cake that could be served?

I think in general I am afraid to take on too hard a job, not because I don't have the will or the patience, I don't understand how far in advance that I might have to actually do something a bit more time consuming. I don't want to end up with an inedible cake in the end!

Any tips?

For my first two cakes ever - for my daughter's 1st and 2nd birthday's! - I made them in 2 weeks time. They were in and out of the refirgerator as I worked on them, but they tasted moist, delicious, and no one threw up!

I always bake my cakes on Monday when they are due on Sat now. I freeze them while they are still warm then thaw them in the fridge Tuesday and begin the decorating process in-and-out of the fridge.
(I can't work on them until the toddlers are in bed and I've had a little "me" time).

I have always wondered this too! I am planning on making a cake for a friend, but have a two year old daughter who constantly asks "what ya doing mama?" Love her to death, but it just easier to work on it after she goes to bed. This helps me out!

My cake teacher told us that once a cake is iced, it'll stay fresh for 3 days. Personally, it makes me nervous to have them sitting around the house after they are decorated. I like to bake and decorate the day before it's due, but then I've not done many complicated cakes.

I baked a cake on Monday, let it cool, torted, filled and gave it a crumb coat. Tuesday I covered it in buttercream. Wednesday I covered it in fondant, stacked the tiers, and added the final touches. I served it today, and it is AWESOME!

I tasted the scraps from leveling the cake, and it is definitely more moist today. I'm not sure how or why, but that seems to be the way it happens for me.

I have wondered about this too. Just last week, I had a cake to make for a girl at work and she lives too far away to get the cake on Saturday morning for a Saturday afternoon party, so I brought it to work on Friday, which meant I iced/decorated it on Thursday. I did tell her to keep the cake refrigerated until about an hour before serving and she said the cake was awesome and moist and they had leftovers and continued eating on it for a few days after. I am still kind of nervous about it though!

I have five cakes to do for this coming Saturday, so I plan on starting 2 of the cakes tonight (the ones I have to deliver Sat am) and then tomorrow night I'll work on the other 3 that are for Sat. afternoon.

Jen