Hello everyone! I am brand new to cake central and still very newbie when it comes to decorating cake so I apologize for all my questions! I tried to search for the answer but alas I couldnt find an exact solution.

I am making a 4 layer high cake for friday. I cooked the cakes last Saturday and due to change of plans, I was forced to wrap them in plastic and foil and save for next week. The cake I made was a store bought pillsbury classic yellow. I also made some marshmellow fondant (the recipe on the top 10 list on cc!)

The problem I have is that I am so busy, I think the only time I have to sculpt the cake is tuesday and wednesday. What I plan to sculpt is a 3d pokemon pokeball that is slightly open and I plan to make it about 4 circles high. I plan to use the buttercream recipe on cc as well to fill and cover the cake before putting on fonant.

Since it is a store bought cake, I wasn't sure how long it is good for if I do finish the cake wednesday night and keep it in the fridge for 2 days. What do you guys think? Any advice would be greatly appreciated to this cake newbie!

If you make it on Tuesday and Wednesday, there's no need to refrigerate it until Friday... it's fine on the counter at room temperature. The cake can't dry out once it's covered.

How have you stored the cakes since Saturday. You said you wrapped them, but did you freeze them? If they have just been in the fridge or on the counter, then I would say rebake. Other wise the cake would already be a week old on the day you planned to eat it.

If it has been in the freezer, then it should be fine if you start decorating it on Wed.

My personal prefernce is that I don't like cake after about day 4 or 5, so I usually only start no more than three days before it is needed. I don't bake and freeze, since I don't have room. If I did then I'd probably bake the weekend before, freeze then pull it out on Wed or Thursday to start torting, filling and icing.

I am actually doing the same thing sort of... I am baking and freezing Wednesday, stacking, carving, icing, and fondant on Thursday, decorating Friday and then leaving it out until Sunday for delivery because I am a full time college student I HAVE to separate it into a multiple day event... Everything I've read on here said it will just fine as long as it's covered with BC or fondant... Good Luck!

I have no idea about storing (sorry!), so I defer to those more experienced than I - but I just wanted to warn about carving a cake mix cake. Did you bake the mix as-is or doctor it up with, say, a WASC recipe? I've carved (too many) cake mix cakes, and let me tell you, it is no easy feat! Until I learned to doctor my recipes, I struggled to carve all sorts of crazy contraptions out of cake that just did not want to be shaped. And I had many cake disasters as well - so many fallen friends! Cake mix on its own is fine for standard round/square/sheet cakes, but carving it is a nightmare. Just a heads-up from someone who spent (many) years there! Never again!

btw, LOVE the pokeball idea! I did pokeball cupcakes for my son's last birthday for his class...they were a huge hit! The kids all loved them and decided that that's what pokemon must taste like. I'd love to see a picture of yours when it's finished!

Thanks so much for all your input! I will most definatly use all the tips.

I did freeze the cake, and just took them out this morning to defrost! Yet I have more questions hehe.

Should I defrost completely before filling sculpting and frosting? Or just leave it a bit frozen for sculpting? I hear all this talk about sweating, does that come from the cake being cold and putting the fondant on so that it starts to mess up the fondant?

Before putting on fondant, should I put it in the fridge? For how long?

So many questions! So little time! Thank you!