I absolutely love decorating cakes but I am finding that it takes me hours and hours to do 1 cake. Does anyone have any secrets that might help me make the process go faster? I can start one at 4:00 pm (baking) and it is 10:00 pm before I am finished. The decorating takes sooo long. I don't know how people do more than 1 cake a day. Any secrets out there??? I only do buttercream icing and decorate with that only.
Actually, 6 hours from start to finish, including baking time, isn't really too bad. 
I'm also a BC decorator. Do you have the icing made ahead of time? All of your equipment out? If using different colored icings, are your bags already filled with the colored icing? Do you have multiple tips (for when you make, for example, stars with the same tip but in 2 different colors). While the cake is baking, are you prepping/wrapping your cardboard?
Having all of this detail stuff done saves you more time than you think. You'd be amazed at how much time you waste by stopping (to make icing, to color icing, to fill a bag) and starting.
Do you clean as you go? Keep a wet cloth handy to wipe down the counter after every little thing you do. Lay a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper or a paper plate on the counter to lay your spoons, measuring cups, etc., on to avoid making a mess on your counter .... faster clean up at the end. Or keep a sink of hot soapy water handy and drop everything in there as you go.
For a cooling cake, I would lay newspapers under the cooling rack to catch the crumbs and the moisture that forms under the cake. Faster clean up .. just wad up the paper and throw it away.
When mixing multiple colors of icing, I use disposable cups (as a caterer, I always have about 400-500 cups on hand, so it's pretty easy for me to grab some!) but at the end of the night, I have no bowls or dishes to wash ... straight into the trash.
Hope this helps!
Great tips !! Thanks....Yes, I do try to clean as I go but it seems like its right at the end with all the colors and such is when everything gets messy. By that time, I am tired and I have to do the writing. I get so nervous with the writing. I am a perfectionist about neat writing on a cake!! 
I want everything to look balanced. That is when I get discouraged.....
Do you bake, ice, refrig and decorate the next day?
Do you bake, ice, refrig and decorate the next day?
It's so hard to do great writing when you're tired!
For Saturday weddings, I bake on Tuesday and freeze them. I make icing, wrap boards, and make any BC flowers on Wednesday. On Thursday, I take them out of the freezer and crumb coat in the early morning, then ice/decorate in the afternoon. Friday is for any last minute anythings that I didn't get done on Thursday. Sat I deliver. If the weddings are late Saturday (i.e. delivery after 5:00,) I might push everything out a day because I have all day Saturday for any last minute stuff.
On a push-comes-to-shove schedule, I have baked on Day One and threw them in the freezer; thawed, iced and decorated on Day Two. Delivered on Day Three.
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