I am going to take a stab at making the barrel bath baby shower cake. It looks so cute, but I was wondering how early I should try and make the boards that will surround the cake? I would like them to stand up about an inch or so above the top of the cake, but I don't want to have fondant boards that are so dried out that they compare in taste with a real board, I am just going for the look

Also, I was wondering if leaving the sides of my cake crumb coated would be enough for the boards to stick to?

Never done a cake like that and i would love to know too.

I've made about 3-4 of these. I use MMF and make them 5-7 days ahead of time. They are stiff enough to stay upright but still slightly soft that if I have to squeeze one in they don't crumble and break.
And yes about the crumb coat, I frost the sides then attach the "boards". It's really one of the easiest cakes because you don't have to cover the whole cake with a sheet of fondant. Make sure you measure around your circumference of your pans so you make enough boards. It will look like you have a ton of them made then when your done you really won't have many if any left over.
Good luck!!

Thank you for your input malene541. I was going to try and work on them this weekend for a cake for Friday. I hopefully will have some nice pictures to show in about a week

I finished it, and love how it turned out. Thanks for the help!!!